Carmen Raposo grew up among the generation of Azorean singers who have marked regional music over the last 40 years, including Aníbal Raposo, her father. She entered the Ponta Delgada Regional Conservatory at a young age, completing her 5th degree in musical training and her 4th in piano. He also attended a year of lyrical singing.

As a teenager, she became interested in percussion, asked her parents for a drum set, and was invited to be the drummer in the gothic metal band Dark Project, later Schism, which went on to open Morbid Death shows. When she went to Lisbon to study and later to Guinea-Bissau to work, she drank from the musical influences surrounding her.

In 2021, she began composing, using the piano as a creative instrument. She then began recording some of her songs, inviting musician Mário Raposo to orchestrate and record them in the studio. This is how the album “Estios e Tormentas” took shape and was completed in 2023.

“Música no Forte” is the first stage to host this project outside its home island of São Miguel. “Estios e Tormentas” is a presentation of the album of the same name. This intimate concert reveals the singer’s musical universe. She also writes most of the lyrics to her songs, reflecting different emotional states and using elements of our Azoreanity metaphorically to describe them.

In this concert, Carmen Raposo is accompanied by her band, which gives voice and rhythm to the show using traditional Portuguese and African percussion instruments. The music reflects her diverse musical influences, from rock, indie pop, jazz, Celtic, and African music to fado, but with a clear focus on popular music.

Lajes do Pico welcomes the music of Carmen Raposo this Sunday, July 21, at 7:30 p.m., at the Santa Catarina Fort. Música no Forte is a MiratecArts project in partnership with the Municipality of Lajes do Pico and with the support of the Regional Directorate for Culture and the INATEL Foundation. http://www.miratecarts.com