Alternative Portugal
I have been curating an Alternative Portugal playlist over the last few months.
Although I’m Portuguese, I haven’t lived there since I was very young — and I confess I am rather ignorant about (too) much of its culture.
However, I have increasingly followed the alternative music scene— and now Spotify has helped me on that journey even more.
Through a range of lists such as The Sound of Portuguese Rock, Indie Lusitano, and The Sound of Hip Hop Tuga (FYI tuga is an affectionate diminutive for people from Portugal), I’ve found loads of new musicians I would have never come across. I try my best to catch some of them when I visit Portugal (many of them have a small following and are not playing outside of the motherland)…
Below are some of my faves (some of which also feature in my other playlist <5,000):
PAUS
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It’s pretty exciting to see a band singing in Portuguese break through in other countries — they’ve played all over Europe and have a loyal following in the Netherlands. A supergroup with two drummers who together play on a “siamese drum”, their heavy melodic tunes are worth checking out live.
A.M.O.R
Calling themselves “rap’s perfect daughters”, the musicians and DJs spit out some great lyrics on my favourite track Novo Dia, which samples Show Me Love by Robin S: “Tu és uma mera parasita no meu indestino/Comes a minha merda e vomitas o teu destino (You’re a mere parasite in my gut/You eat my shit and vomit up your destiny)”. Violet, one half of the group, has also just released a dance banger of an EP, Togetherness.
Supernada
Another Portuguese supergroup fronted by prolific musician Manuel Cruz, this band only have one album to their name, released ten years after they initially formed. My favourite song of theirs, Arte Quis Ser Vida, is reminiscent of Belgian band dEUS, mixing a little jazz, spoken word and some gnarly guitars…hoping there will be more from them soon.
As ever, I am open to recommendations and would be especially keen to hear from non-Portuguese people about their favourite tuga artists…
Babs
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