The anthology is a “perfect journey” through 40 years of Azorean music.

The diversity of the last four decades of music made in the Azores runs through the new anthology released by “Açor” by Emiliano Toste, a producer and editor from Terceira.
The three CDs of “Açores. 4 Décadas de Música em Compasso Perfeito” contain songs by 64 performers and bands from the 1980s to the present day.
“With some humor, I would say that we have here our Cultural Jurassic Park of the Azores. We see, among our ‘dinosaurs’ who are already well known, aspiring dinosaurs, our young composers and performers,” says Emiliano Toste.
There are “all the names we already know, like Aníbal Raposo, Zeca Medeiros or Luís Alberto Bettencourt,” but also artists from the new generation, like Cristóvam, Fábio Ourique, FelixTheFirst or Sara Cruz.
The multiplicity is evident. “Azorean music is diverse on many levels, not only in style, but also in category or area. I’ve moved away from pure traditional music, which nevertheless has two representatives,” describes the producer.
You can also find songs from the Azores sung by other voices. “We have, for example, a continental, Filipa Pais, who everyone knows nationally, but who did a recent work called ‘Viagem aos Açores’ (Journey to the Azores), with traditional themes arranged for piano and voice,” explains Emiliano Toste.

Filipa Pais appears in the anthology with “Sol Baixo,” a famous group from the island of Santa Maria.
The common thread remains insularity. Then there are the universal themes, such as love. “It’s the perfect journey, in its content or concern, but let it be imperfect now, so that there can be continuity,” reflects Emiliano Toste.
The anthology is prefaced by Victor Rui Dores, Carlos Medeiros Sousa, Maria Antónia de Fraga, and Sidónio Bettencourt. “Let’s listen to the keen interpretative sense and emotional thickness of these voices that still and always echo in our imagination,” writes Victor Rui Dores.
Emiliano Toste is from the parish of Cabo da Praia. He left the island to take a general singing course at the Porto Conservatory of Music, followed by a degree in singing at the Gaia Conservatory of Music. He has a degree in Music Education from the University of Minho.
“Açor,” based in Matosinhos, is considered the largest publishing house with Azorean performers.

The anthology “Açores. 4 Décadas de Música em Compasso Perfeito” can be found in several stores on Terceira island and on the website “emilianotoste.com”, where there are also several works published by “Açor.”
Among other projects, Emiliano Toste collected traditional music from the nine islands of the archipelago, which in 2017 was handed over to the then Regional Directorate for Culture. Over the decades, he has researched the various facets of regional music, including folklore and philharmonic bands.

In Diário Insular, Angra do Herísmo, Terceira Island- José Lourenço, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno.

Editor’s Note: for total transparency, Emilano is a cousin and dear friend of mine. DB