A PORTUGUESE IN THE ORIENT: RÃO KYAO 

A PORTUGUESE IN THE ORIENT: RÃO KYAO

8 May

Auditorium

21.30

Price: € 20.00

Over 12

Approx. duration: 90 minutes, no intermission

Production: Fundação Oriente

A concert to commemorate the first anniversary of the Museu do Oriente.

For over 20 years, the flutist Rão Kyao has dedicated himself to an in-depth study of the bamboo flute and classical Indian music. He counts among his masters the great Raghunath Seth, on the flute, and Pradeep Schatergee for vocals.

In Goa, where the Portuguese presence has been ongoing since late in the 15th century, we find music that represents the perfect fusion between Portuguese and Indian music. The features of each respective style merge perfectly into each other while simultaneously experimenting with a profound level of expressiveness derived from the genuine nature of traditional music. This Goan form of expression, itself born of fusion, is endowed with all the authenticity of grassroots popularity.

Reference is made to this situation not because this is a Goan music concert but rather out of how finely it exemplifies the real possibility of establishing bonds between Portuguese and Indian musical emotions.

This is all very much brought to mind when witnessing a performance in which a Portuguese artist, Rão Kyao, on bamboo flutes, and his group take to the stage with an Indian violinist and together recreate a form of common and real feeling, similar to the authenticity found in other musical forms from Goa.

The songs are either of traditional origin (both Portuguese and Indian) or are originals in addition to the great emphasis placed on collective improvisation.