The eleventh edition of the Montanha Pico Festival embraces the Azorean composer and musician Cristóvam this Saturday, January 4, in a special event at the Madalena Auditorium. Performing music from the movie “First Date” by Luís Filipe Borges, Cristóvam takes his guitar to the stage for an acoustic moment.

“Working with Luís Filipe Borges and Diogo Rola is always something that doesn’t feel like work,” admits Cristóvam. “I feel that they both have a lot of trust in me and in what I can bring to the table, and that we’ve already developed a professional relationship in which we understand each other perfectly with just a few words. I saw the film and realized right from the start that the story revolved a lot around this character who put himself in a difficult position to try and impress someone. I realized that there was a touch of humour, also a touch of romance, and that the music and lyrics should reflect a little of these three vertices.”

Cristóvam took up the guitar at the age of 11 and soon after began writing his first songs. His first album, “Hopes & Dreams,” was released in 2018; in 2021, he received the Composer of the Year award from the Festival Clube de Criatividade Portugal, and the following year, he released his second album, “Songs on a Wire”; since March 2024 he has been working on his third album, to be released this year.

“When I recorded my new album, I wrote a song called ‘Simplify’, which had everything this movie asked for, and whose chorus said: ‘We drift in circles for a simple ride / Why can’t we simplify? “I started experimenting and placing song pieces at different moments in the movie. I showed it to the crew, and everyone immediately reacted: ‘This is the song!’ From then on, it was a question of working on different music arrangements, acoustic or just piano, playing with the tracks, and shaping the music for the movie. As well as contributing to this theme, I also had the opportunity to do a bit of the soundtrack, accentuating certain moments in the movie. This kind of work is certainly challenging, but I also love doing it.”

Cristóvam is sharing this new work with Pico audiences live for the first time. The gala event presents the first edition of the PAA! Awards – Azorean Audiovisual Prizes, takes place this Saturday, January 4, at 16:30. The doors of the Madalena Auditorium open at 4pm and include surprises, which can only be enjoyed live, before the preview screening of the movie “First Date”. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome. The Montanha Pico Festival starts on Friday, January 3, and ends on January 30. For more information, visit picofestival.com and join us on Facebook: Montanha Pico Festival.

Photos by Diogo Rosa

From MiratecArts Press Release

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