BLITZ 40 years old: “I read the magazine and dreamed of seeing my face there, one day”, Iolanda
As we enter the countdown to the big party for BLITZ’s 40th anniversary, at Meo Arena, in Lisbon, on December 12th – with concerts by Xutos & Pontapés, Capitão Fausto, Gisela João and MARO –we asked musicians, promoters, journalists, radio hosts and other personalities to go to the trunk to retrieve memories from four decades of history, also leaving us a message for the future.
“I’m 29 years old, but I remember being little, about 13 or 14 years old, and buying BLITZ”, recalls iolanda, when asked about her memories of the publication, “and I remember, obviously, seeing artists who appeared in the magazine and dreaming of seeing my face there, one day. I have the idea of seeing something with Amor Electro or Donna Maria… I’ve always been a big fan of Marisa Liz. Then, I stopped buying because I read everything on my phone. With digital, I no longer have the paper version and today I follow what they do online, even though I think it cuts too much slack in the physical format. In the sense that you don’t have something tangible that you can cut and paste into a notebook. I remember making collages with artists I liked.”
The artist, who after winning 10th place for Portugal at Eurovision with the song ‘Grito’, released the EP “Olhar P’ra Baixo” in July, assumes the importance of BLITZ in her journey. “It is always interesting for me to work with the media and BLITZ was, without a doubt, one of those that I would like to be associated with. They have always worked for our culture, for our music, and that is super important”, argues iolanda, “it is important that this connection happens so that more musicians can be heard. For me, as an independent artist, any publicity is very important.”
“I really miss having, in Portugal, a physical magazine that talks about music”, says the artist, “of course in the digital age it is complicated, but I think it is always possible. I know it’s important to save paper for the sake of the planet, but at the same time, I really miss having a physical magazine that talks about music and other important topics in our industry. The impact of BLITZ, for me, at the time, was always that thing of thinking that one day I would also want to make music. I read ‘Rolling Stone’ too, because my father and mother always loved music, and magazines really shape the way we see the industry. That thing of seeing an artist there and thinking ‘wow, how iconic’. It always gave me great encouragement and I feel that now, with digital, everything ends up being much more volatile. I miss that extra shine.”
Considering that “there is still a lot of work to do” for the visibility of music in Portugal, the artist adds: “we can be much more exhaustive in the work we do, both me and the media… but I think that is already a given because culture is always very much put aside. That’s why publications like BLITZ are super important.” In the future, iolanda would like to see “much more video content”: “there is a lot of lack of this content in Portugal, something well thought out, well done, where artists can go and play. Things like ‘Colors’ or late night shows. BLITZ could work on that, too, who knows?”
