"This album is the result of a journey through the geographical, demographic, and emotional territory of the municipality of Alandroal, with a prolonged stop in its soundscape, especially musical and literary. We learned the "Cântico ao Horto das Oliveiras" at the Festa da Santa Cruz with Balbina Bexiga, in Aldeia da Venda; a popular contradance with António Claréu, in Rosário; the "Saias de Ferreira" with António Coelho and Dino; the "décimas" and the sound they make when spoken by the voices of Patacho and Mancha. With Ricardo Pacífico, we read Ti Limpas singing sorrows and mockeries. In Hortinhas, we were guided by Zico, by his stories and songs that jump from cassette tapes and the memory of the people to the rehearsals of the Trigueirão group in Relheiro.

From the memory recorded on tape, we learned the Opening of the "Auto da Criação do Mundo," from the unavoidable Bonecos de Santo Aleixo, which marked several generations of Alandroal residents. We realized that we had five elements, like the fingers of each hand: the microtonal melodies of the Santa Cruz chants, the minor modes,

puppets and their music/dance in major and the "saias," an ancestral dance that we wanted to rescue, and that which is one of the strongest elements of Alandroal's popular culture: poetry, especially in the form of "décima," with a four-verse motto and four stanzas of ten verses each. When we delved into poetry, we realized its relationship, sometimes intimate, with some forms of fado, fado/song. We learned the melodies and wanted to return them to the sound of an ensemble of viola campaniça, viola da gamba, bagpipes, and percussions, to which we added spoken and sung voices. We divided the album into two parts with five songs each. In the first part (tracks 1 to 5), we present arrangements for popular music and poetry that we learned on this journey and mentioned above. In the second part (tracks 6 to 10), we present five new compositions, inspired by the sound textures and musical/choreographic and literary forms of the first part. We have a mirror album, where one side reflects the sound waves of the other, even if they inhabit different spaces and times; even if the timeline between them is anything but linear. Loendro is a matrix and portal to a time-place where sorrows are purged and dreams, memories, and mockeries are danced.

Raia

António Bexiga - Viola Campaniça

Cardo-Roxo

Antony Fernandes - Bagpipes and Voice

Carmina Repas Gonçalves - Viola da gamba and Voice

Composition and Arrangements - Raia e Cardo-Roxo

Production | Projecto Cardo

Recording, editing and mastering – Daniel Santos e Ricardo Torres

Research, video recording, interviews, production and photography - Carla Dias

Graphic design – Cristina Viana

Raízes da Oralidade​​​