Produced by Rodolfo Stroeter

Recorded at studio Cardan in Sao Paulo in November, 1990 by Sergio "Shaolin" Okuda

Design: Ricardo Ohtake, Ligia Pedra and Monica Pasinato

The Antonio Madureira's compositions exhibit an economy of means and a simple, precise character that detach them from tradition and the light inertia of the melodies that live in our memories. Such qualities launch them towards the frontiers of musical language and demonstrate the transcendence of the “armorial movement”, of which he was one of the protagonists. Let's not fool ourselves: although concise, this is a polyphonic poetics which is expressed in several voices. However, only two of them appear in this “Romançário”: Madureira’s acoustic guitar and Rodolfo Stroeter’s double bass.

Frequently, the beginning of each composition is based on an evocative theme, in which the guitar brings vaguely familiar songs that belong to an atavistic background. Waltzes and modas (traditional regional songs) are thus being constructed through sentences whose simplicity slightly contrasts with the metallic timbre of the guitar. The metallic threads intertwin and, as they elevate higher, they fall under the weight of the double bass’ notes.

It is when the harmony breaks. From the core of the tradition, a surprising sonority breaks out abruptly. The voices set themselves apart in dissonances and overlaps as they no longer want the fusion. Now the double bass often refuses to create the background in which the guitar leaves its footprints. Also the guitar seeks to unroll in space the deliberate entanglement of the threads.

Perhaps this is the lesson of Madureira and Stroeter: that it is possible, by treading the placid path of memory, to suddenly encounter the impossible. Be it a melody that we still do not learn, or a silence.