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CD
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MBARI 007CD
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This is the second solo guitar album from Portugal's Norberto Lobo. On Pata Lenta, he covers a dramatic range of styles, from bluegrass fingerpicking to Brazil's northeastern folk; from a cover of Björk's "Unravel" to his own take on Portuguese instrumental guitar music. On his uninterrupted voyage through guitar poetics, Lobo has been on expeditions with several great names. He took part in Rhys Chatham's "Guitar Trio" in Lisbon, and has performed with renowned vocalist/guitarist Lula Pena and jammed with guitar greats from across the spectrum such as Steffen Basho-Junghans and Gary Lucas, and has shared the stage with friend Devendra Banhart. He has played in Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, England, USA, Canada (where he opened, at her request, for Lhasa) and the Netherlands (where he played with renowned cellist Ernst Reijseger), honing his ability to guide listeners to seldom-visited inner landscapes. Playing solo guitar is a public test of dexterity, creativity and heart -- an attempt to bring together ideas and emotions that will summon a whole universe into existence. Norberto, between those 6 and 12 strings, is able to unfold himself into multiple voices that rally together as quickly as they challenge each other. On Pata Lenta, he has tapped into a series of traditions and harnessed them into his own vision -- primitive music filtered through modern-day free traditions, evoking the distinctive Portuguese style of Carlos Paredes, meditating on Lisbon and the Tagus river; echoing Paulinho da Viola's delicate choros and sambas, revealing a love affair with Brazilian music, and remembering the primordial blues of John Fahey and Charley Patton. However, Norberto deftly weaves in his own stories, mining forgotten emotions and mending long-lost spiritualities to craft an album of delicate folk-guitar beauty.
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