

Bravio
As a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Ensemble Cardo-Roxo, we are launching and celebrating our fifth album, this time dedicated to Portuguese flora. Nature has always been the main muse for architects, painters, sculptors, writers, musicians... Its beauty and diversity have provided artists with a mysterious and inexhaustible source of inspiration. And plants have always held a special place here. An endless number of masterpieces have used the flower as a metaphor for feminine beauty, the strong oak as a symbol of the honorable man, or the laurel to represent triumph. The traditional Portuguese songbook is full of personifications, metaphors, and centuries-old poetic perspectives on reality. More than that, it is full of clues to the immense uses of plants, both for medicinal and culinary purposes.
"Bravio" results from our experience in appropriating and recovering some of the songs from the Portuguese oral tradition inspired by flora and in the attempt to feel and understand the relationship of respect and mutual dependence that has always united man and nature and that is now forgotten or distant from most of us. This is also a special milestone in our journey, because 10 years have passed since Cardo-Roxo was born; 10 years have passed since we chose the name, the image and the idea of a wild plant to represent us. It grows in our fields and, like the Portuguese people, it is beautiful and delicate, but strong, rugged and resilient. 10 years have passed and the small Cardo-Roxo has grown and multiplied! Several musicians, composers and friends have been with us, until today, on this fascinating journey through traditional Portuguese music. To all of them, our eternal thanks! May we be able to resist and continue to carry the human, poetic and musical essence of our people into the future!
Antony Fernandes - Bagpipes and Voice
Carmina Repas Gonçalves - Viola da gamba and Voice
Tiago Manuel Soares - Percussion
Carolina Repas Gonçalves - Soprano
Eva Braga Simões - Soprano
Joana Leite Castro - Soprano
Cristina Repas Gonçalves - Alto
Daniela Leite Castro - Alto
Gabriela Braga Simões - Alto
Maria Repas Gonçalves - Alto
André Lourenço - Harpsichord
Sérgio Calisto - Nickelhärpa
Arrangements | Cardo-Roxo, Daniela Leite Castro, Filipe Fernandes, Pedro Santos e Xurxo Varela
Production | Projecto Cardo
Recording, mixing and mastering – Daniel Santos e Ricardo Torres
Texts - Paulo Pereira
Graphic design – Raquel Peixoto
Text revision – Lídia Bom
Support - Direção Geral das Artes e Antena 2
Buy album - Bravio

