Gisela João will present a new album dedicated to freedom at BLITZ’s 40th anniversary party, at Meo Arena
On December 12th, Gisela João will perform at party celebrating 40 years of BLITZ at Meo Arena, in Lisbonsharing the stage with Xutos & Pontapés, Capitão Fausto and MARO.
In Posto Emissor, a BLITZ podcast that will be published this Thursday, the artist from Barcelos – who, like the BLITZ newspaper, came into the world on November 6th – revealed first-hand that, in the December show, she will present his new album, dedicated to the songs of freedom. This spectacle, which Gisela João created for the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April and which later took to festivals such as Bons Sons, includes songs by José Afonso and other Portuguese authors from the same revolutionary period and with the same interventionist character. Several of these versions that Gisela João has been singing live will be released as an album, on a date to be announced.
“I realized that I want to sing songs about freedom”, explained Gisela João. “I started preparing the shows [a propósito dos 50 anos do 25 de Abril]I do the shows and suddenly I realize: I need to record this. I need to record these songs that have already been recorded many times, I need to show my version. The version of these women, and these people, who live in 2024 and who feel these lyrics. Because these lyrics could have been written today”, he argues. “I will sing freedom, because freedom is at risk.”
In this work, which follows “Aurora”, from 2021, Gisela João is accompanied by two musicians: the Spanish guitarist Carles Rodenas Martinez and the keyboardist Luís “Twins” Pereira, who have played with her in the shows dedicated to the 25th of April.
At Posto Emissor, Gisela João said that she met Carles Rodenas Martinez last year, when she went to Spain to study music. “It was one of the dreams of my life, to study music. So I went to Valencia and met this teacher, who I invited to do these April 25th concerts with me. I explained the context and showed the Portuguese singer-songwriters of the time”, he recalls. “And someone asked me: ‘But are you going to do shows on April 25th with a Spanish musician? And I: ‘yes, because freedom doesn’t just belong to the Portuguese who lived through the 25th of April, it belongs to everyone.’”
The result of this collaboration can be seen on December 12th, at BLITZ’s 40th anniversary party, at Meo Arena. Tickets are now on sale.
