Moonspell
Proud That We Help People Learn More About Portugal

11.06.2018

We met senhor Mike Gaspar, the drummer of Portuguese dark metallers Moonspell in St. Petersburg on March 24, before their concert at ClubZal. I was a bit nervous because it was my first interview in Portuguese but luckily Mike was eager to share the latest Moonspell news so I felt really comfortable and liked our conversation very much. We spoke about Moonspell's new album "1755", a Portuguese music genre called "fado", modern and traditional, Moonspell fans in Mexico, etc. Open a new page in the history of Moonspell with this exclusive interview with Mike Gaspar for HeadBanger.ru.

Moonspell wanted to do an entire album in Portuguese for a long time, you had this idea since the times of "Wolfheart" (1995). Why did you have to postpone realizing such an important dream for such a long time?

The "1755" album was more the idea of Fernando (Moonspell frontman Fernando Ribeiro – ed.), perhaps. The idea appeared some time ago but we never thought about releasing it as a Moonspell album. It was just an experiment in Portuguese. Later we accumulated so much material to share with the audience and the theme turned out to be so interesting that we realized – there would be an album. Our label, Napalm Records, supported us in releasing an album in Portuguese but we didn’t think that it was going to be accepted so well by the public. Happily, all people that had followed the band for already some years got very excited with the perspective of such an event. 1755 is the year of the Great Lisbon Earthquake and a lot of people in the modern world didn’t know about it. But now we have so many people that don't only want to know historic facts but are also interested in the Portuguese language. It all makes us feel very proud. It rarely happens when a metal band succeeds to strike such a deep chord in people's hearts.

The "Wolfheart" album was out in 1995, and it had some components in Portuguese, songs like "Alma Mater" have some  lines in Portuguese but most of it is in English. It must be said that Moonspell have always had some parts of compositions in Portuguese, it’s important, but we have never done the whole album in our native language. The special case is the song "Em Nome do Medo" that we made several years ago and that also became inspiration for our new work. Together with composer Jon Phipps we made an orchestration of "Em Nome do Medo" and it’s the opening track of our new album. When we heard the this version it opened the gates and gave us many ideas for "1755".

Senhor…

You don’t need to call me senhor. You should say "senhor" only when talking to someone much older than you or to a professor. You can use "tu". Quando diz "senhor" é deves tratar por você quando estas com os pais ou alguma coisa oficial. Mas pessoas que são amigos a gente trata por "tu" (In Portuguese you can’t just say "you". Referring to friends you use "tu", to show respect and some distance and in official occasions you use "você" – ed.).

But I like to use "você".

Yes, it depends on a person. Some people like to address this way and some people were educated to use this form.

Why did you decide to dedicate the new album to the Great Lisbon earthquake and not, for example, to the historic problem of slave trade?

The whole album is based on one event. We didn’t feel like we needed to talk about other things except those that happened in relation to the Great Lisbon Earthquake. That day a lot of things took place because in the old times November 1 was All Saints' Day, a religious holiday. They burnt candles in all churches. Citizens were celebrating that day. And after that tragedy people didn’t believe that God could sent them this punishment. So people started to think in a more scientific way about why such an earthquake happened. And then there was reconstruction of Lisbon under command of Marquis de Pombal. He was very intelligent in a way of finding the right people, Marquis de Pombal had a very innovative mind. But he had to escape from the pressure of the Catholic church and inquisition as the Catholic church based in Vatican treated other countries in a very conservative way.

The Great Lisbon Earthquake affected so much not only the Portuguese people but the whole Europe, as a lot of things started to change. There emerged seismology, science about earthquakes. Until that moment people didn’t believe in scientific substantiation of this phenomenon, they thought it was punishment from God and refused to analyze it mentally. That day more than 40 churches were ruined by the earthquake. And instead of constructing new churches in the name of God people used those stones and materials to build houses for themselves. There were many victims but the way the reconstruction was organized was the best thing that Marquis de Pombal managed to do.

As I told you, Lisbon in the old times was the centre of the world, people from all over the world arrived there to trade and make commercial bargains. The capital was very powerful because of Portugal’s achievements in the Age of Exploration. And after that tragedy Portugal has always had difficulties trying to retrieve all this wealth.

The Portuguese were also the first who stopped slave trade. Now it is a part of history. It is an important question, obviously. But that time Europe transported slaves for both Americas. The Portuguese were involved in it as much as the Spanish and all the others. The only thing that makes us proud is that the Portuguese were the first who thought it was a mistake and were the first who ended slave trade. This was followed by a lot of other things that we have to mention here. Portugal had colonies and people of all these African countries speak the Portuguese language. There are Portuguese people who were born in Africa and later had to come back to the new Portugal as the revolution happened there and Portugal had to abandon these territories in Africa, lost control over them. But today there is still a strong connection with ex-colonies. We even have a special social programme for students, universities, Portuguese who want to work in ex-colonies. And there they still have Portuguese television.

What was the idea that you wanted to express with the cover artwork? How were you searching for the right painter, designer? What made you think that João Diogo would do everything perfect?

João Diogo works with Fernando in the new publishing house (Moonspell have their own publishing house Alma Mater Books – ed.). Fernando saw potential and talent in João Diogo. He is a big Moonspell fan and also a heavy metal fan. He has quite extensive knowledge and it is important for Moonspell – if a person who will design a cover for Moonspell doesn't understand metal, it turns out to be difficult. João Diogo perhaps could be a member of a band himself. He has a very intensive lifestyle, just like us. And in the cover he made for us João Diogo tried to express the whole way, the destiny of Portugal and Lisbon. He also tried to make something exclusive and full of humanism that would look more into the future, so that the world would see what is coming.

The LP cover is a portrait of what the band is at this moment of time. This is the state of Lisbon that day – there was tsunami, houses were destroyed, and João Diogo perfectly reflected all those things in his artwork for "1755".

How did the idea of inviting a fadista as the second vocalist for "In Tremor Dei" cross your mind? Why did you choose senhor Paulo Bragança?

Paulo Bragança. He was really well known in the fado circles in the 90s. Back then he already had a different perspective, he was not like traditional fado singers. Performing on the stage he demonstrated that he belonged to another type of sonority. He had the look and appearance that made him the "bad boy" of fado. And it helped us feel much empathy for his artistic ways. And later he disappeared. He lived in Ireland for 10 or 12 years and nobody knew anything else about him. Until Fernando had an idea that his voice would be perfect for our song "In Tremor Dei". Fernando got in contact with him, and Paulo Bragança was very happy to have this opportunity and came back to Portugal. And since then, after he worked with us, he has already had various concerts. He has released a new EP and returned to his career that he left a long time ago.

He became a very close person for Moonspell. He has an eccentric personality but it is part of what kind of musician that he is and the style of time that he lived in. He was far away for a long time and now he is back and is getting used to today.

Mike, do you like fado yourself?

Yes. I like Amália Rodrigues – a great fadista. It’s difficult to be Portuguese and not to like fado. Amália Rodrigues shaped a whole generation of fadistas and today we have a lot of good fadistas of high quality in Portugal but there will never be another Amália Rodrigues – it’s impossible. But the special one is the band Madredeus, their music is not traditional fado but they have the essence of the Portuguese. And until now Madredeus are my favorite ones. I think they show what it is to be Portuguese and what the Portuguese style is. We, Moonspell, are bonded with Portuguese music. Pedro Ayres Magalhães is a classic guitarist and one of the major composers of Madredeus. Moonspell have much in common with him. He created the acoustic version of our composition (on the album "Darkness and Hope" Moonspell did a cover version of Madredeus song "Os Senhores Da Guerra" – ed.).

Do you like this guitarist?

Yes, we like Madredeus and their guitarist. They are not just a good band, they also are good people. Sometimes it’s difficult to make good music and not turn into a snob, into a rockstar. They are very humble and without a doubt they are the greatest musicians of the world music. Madredeus are known for their great performances at the arenas in Rome in front of thousands viewers back in the 90s. And that was the time when the Internet didn’t exist, so not so many people knew about the band. When we communicated with them closely they told us about all adventures they had being on tours in their early days.

And, talking about fado, well, fado now is a bit different. Today it’s fashionable to mix many music styles – music of Hispanic countries, salsa, Brazilian music – and there is audience that really likes that. Those who prefer a more traditional artistic way in music are fond of what Amália Rodrigues did, what Paulo Bragança does. I have listened to Paulo singing and this is what fado needs now. He makes his own fado but it’s also very traditional. People have much nostalgia and sadness in their hearts and feel the power of these feelings though a fadista’s lyrics.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the world that see no difference between the cultures of Portugal and Spain although it’s obvious that these are two different worlds. Why have you recorded the song "Desastre" in both Portuguese and Spanish? Who did the translation into Spanish?

It was not very difficult because Fernando speaks Spanish. He has a part of his career in Spain and he understands Spanish very well. All the Portuguese people can speak Spanish a little bit. The truth is that we did the Spanish version of the song more for our Mexican fans and the Spanish speaking community of Latin America because we have had a strong connection with this audience for already several years. So we wanted to make this version especially for them. The funniest thing is that sometimes people understand Latin American Spanish better than Spanish of our neighbor, Spain, despite a strong accent.

We feel great empathy for Latin America. You can perform many times in Spain but you never feel that warm welcome you always have when you are in Mexico, Chile, Argentina. This is what means to be neighbors. As we are very close to each other geographically there are people who complain about Spain a little bit but the truth is that we have much in common. My mother told me that Spanish are our "hermanos" – brothers. And, of course, our blood is crossed. We in Portugal have a lot of people who could be Spanish and there are a lot of Spanish who could probably be Portuguese. And therefore, it’s the Iberian peninsula. We have been living here for a long time, since the age of the Romans. And we, Portuguese and Spanish, are the only ones who live on the peninsula and we are brothers, nevermind what we say about each other. Portuguese in Spain can feel like home as well as Spanish can feel like home when they are in Portugal. Food in our countries may be very different but traditions, for example, olive oil, olives, the way we live, our cafes, family traditions – all of these things are equal.

In Spain there is no good wind, no good marriage ("De Espanha nem bom vento, nem bom casamento", an old Portuguese proverb – ed).

That’s what we say in Portugal, indeed.

It feels like lately Russia has had a high demand for Portugal, this interest increases. The Russian House of Fado organizes concerts of fadistas in Moscow and St. Petersburg. I have been twice at such concerts myself. What do you think about this phenomenon?

I already know this phenomenon for a long time. Fadistas, artists that sing fado, especially people like Mariza, are recognized worldwide. Bands like Heróis do Mar, Madredeus belong to the world music and have a strong influence. There always are places for cultural events. Several times fadistas were introduced to presidents and kings of other countries when they were members of delegations and accompanied Portuguese presidents.

There was a moment when people in Portugal had enough of fado. But the truth is that fado is a very essential and unique thing that we have only in Portugal. There is no other place in the world where you can find this music style, this style of living and expressing yourself in music. Foreigners, even if they don’t understand the language, feel sadness of the music.

All of that has a big influence on the global culture. I think, every person who is fond of music and likes to learn more about foreign cultures of course would love to get acquainted with fado. This is the reason why the world increasingly talks more about fado. Mariza and Ana Moura, another fado singer, were recently invited to participate as guests in an international talent show. Prince, when he was alive, came to a club in Portugal especially to see Ana Moura. You see how fascinated Prince was, one of the best artists of our time. Maybe he was interested so much because he had never heard anything like that before.

It’s good that we help people all over the world learn more about our country. We were closed for the outside world for a long time. We had dictatorship in Portugal until 1974. During the Second World War and the First World War Portuguese people didn’t have significant contacts with the rest of the world. When you don’t communicate with other countries for a long time, it has consequences. Gradually the Portuguese have become more open and foreigners discovered Portugal for themselves. Up to the fact that Madonna lives in Portugal now. Don’t know if it is good or bad. But this is what happens with all countries. It can be Rome or Barcelona – so many people come there that it really turns into something impossible. Usually it harms the countries. For example, in Paris a few people that live there show the necessary respect.

Sometimes there are people who travel just to party and to destroy things around, such incidents have already happened in Portugal. Recently we have had problems with Englishmen as they walked down the streets all naked and drunk. Imagine the situation when I’m on my way to school with my daughter and see an Englishman, all drunk and naked. To my mind there is nothing good about it and nobody would like that kind of behavior. I think that everyone has to show respect. Just like us when we are on the road in Russia. We respect the Russian culture very much, we have seen Russia many times and have been visiting it for already a long time, trying to learn the language.

We have so many Russian and Ukrainian friends in Portugal, Bulgaria and all over Europe. It’s interesting that they settle in and adapt to new places very easily. Maybe this is the reason why we also feel this ease here, in Russia. Some people confuse Portuguese with Russian as they hear the speech, it has already happened to us many times.

Moonspell on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moonspellband/

Special thanks to Dmitry Martynenko (Infinity Concert) for arranging this interview.

Interview and translation from Portuguese: Alexandra Prozorova
Photos: Margarita Stefankova
March 24, 2018
(с) HeadBanger.ru