There are musical groups formed by auditions, contracts, and professional ambition. And then there are those rarer ensembles born around family tables, nourished by shared memories, sustained not by commercial urgency but by affection, tradition, and the simple joy of making music together. Entreparentes belongs unmistakably to this second tradition. For nearly two decades, the Azorean ensemble has quietly cultivated a distinctive place within Portuguese music—not by preserving folk songs as museum pieces, nor by reinventing them beyond recognition, but by allowing them to breathe anew through the voices and hearts of one family. Their upcoming performance at the Forte de Santa Catarina, overlooking the Atlantic in Lajes do Pico as part of the Música no Forte concert series promoted by MiratecArts, is not merely another concert. It is another chapter in a musical journey where kinship itself has become an instrument.
For bassist, composer, conductor, and educator Antero Ávila, music has always been as natural as breathing. Yet among the many artistic paths he has traveled—from classical music to jazz, from composition to conducting—Entreparentes occupies a place unlike any other. Here, the stage is shared not only with gifted musicians but with brothers, spouses, children, and lifelong companions. The music becomes something profoundly intimate: a conversation between generations.
“Tocar em conjunto foi uma forma de nos encontrarmos como família,” he reflects. “Playing together became a way for us to come together as a family.” It was, he explains, also “a way of passing Portuguese music on to our children and, together, perpetuating its sounds.” Those words reveal the true origin of the ensemble. Founded in 2008, Entreparentes was never conceived as simply another performing group. It became a place where family memory, artistic expression, and cultural inheritance could meet naturally. Every rehearsal became another family gathering. Every performance became another opportunity to ensure that songs once heard in childhood would continue to live in the voices of future generations.
That sense of continuity shapes everything the ensemble performs. Sunday’s concert on Pico will guide audiences through Portugal’s musical geography, moving effortlessly between mainland traditions and the rich musical heritage of the Azores. Some of the selections will be instantly recognizable, beloved songs deeply rooted in Portuguese popular music. Others will evoke different historical periods and musical styles that continue to inspire the group creatively. Yet no matter how familiar the melodies may be, audiences should not expect simple reproductions.
“We are not a covers band,” Antero emphasizes. Instead, Entreparentes approaches every piece as an act of rediscovery. Rhythms are reshaped. Harmonies evolve. Vocal lines are reimagined. Instrumentation shifts. Familiar songs acquire fresh textures without ever losing their original soul. “We transform the songs we love to play in our own way,” he explains. “We alter rhythms, harmonies and ways of singing, giving new visions, interpretations and expressions to the songs we perform.” It is an approach that respects tradition without becoming imprisoned by it, allowing Portuguese popular music to continue growing rather than remaining frozen in time.
Their identity, however, is defined as much by voices as by arrangements. The vocal interplay between siblings Grinoalda Ávila, Andreia Machado, and Gilberto Pereira has become one of the group’s unmistakable signatures, creating harmonies that carry both technical refinement and the effortless familiarity of people who have shared a lifetime together. Around those voices gathers a carefully balanced ensemble: Antero Ávila on electric bass, Gilberto Pereira on guitar, Grinoalda Ávila on keyboards and, for this concert, autoharp, Andreia Machado on flute, and Miguel Ávila on drums. It is a family orchestra in the truest sense of the phrase, each instrument contributing not merely to the music but to an ongoing family dialogue.
As the years have passed, the ensemble itself has evolved naturally, mirroring the changing rhythms of family life. New generations have joined as guest performers whenever circumstances permit, while the core spirit has remained remarkably constant. “The younger members of the family stay close to us,” Antero says with quiet pride. “It is a joy to enjoy their company and to promote this intergenerational encounter.” Few artistic projects speak so eloquently of continuity. In an era where cultural traditions often struggle to bridge generational divides, Entreparentes demonstrates that heritage survives most naturally when it is lived together rather than merely taught.
The band’s journey has likewise unfolded without the pressures that often accompany contemporary musical careers. There has never been an aggressive campaign for visibility, nor an urgency to constantly release recordings or chase commercial success. “The band has accompanied our lives in a natural and subtle way,” Antero observes. “It always returns to its base whenever invitations arise.” That quiet philosophy has allowed Entreparentes to mature organically alongside the many other musical commitments of its members. Each performance is approached not as routine entertainment but with what he describes as “a profound sense of responsibility and commitment to Portuguese music and to our language, regardless of where we are.”
Over nearly twenty years, that commitment has taken them throughout the Azores and into Portuguese communities abroad, where their music has found audiences eager to reconnect with familiar melodies carried across oceans. Collaborations with ensembles such as the Terceira Island Wind Orchestra and the Allegro Choir have further enriched their artistic path, yet the essential character of the group has remained unchanged: family first, music always.
Their audiences, Antero believes, understand precisely what the ensemble offers. “There is an audience for everything,” he says. “What we do has always been warmly embraced, and that encourages us to continue.” Those who already know Entreparentes arrive with certain expectations. Those hearing them for the first time often discover something unexpected. “The public wants diversity,” he reflects. “Our proposal is a renewal of popular music with our own characteristic sound.” That single sentence perhaps best defines the ensemble’s artistic philosophy. They do not seek novelty for its own sake, nor do they merely preserve inherited repertoire unchanged. Instead, they search patiently for “new ways of presenting our songs,” guided, as Antero says, “by our intuition and by what we ourselves love.”
Perhaps this explains why recordings currently occupy little space in their plans. Although they continue developing new arrangements and expanding their repertoire, the group’s greatest satisfaction comes from live performance, where music remains alive, unpredictable, and deeply human. “We are focused on the experience of playing live,” Antero explains, “with all the musical events that this always provides.” There is wisdom in that choice. Some music belongs not inside a recording studio but beneath an open sky, where every performance becomes unique, shaped by the audience, the landscape, and the unrepeatable magic of the moment.
For Antero himself, whose professional life encompasses composition, conducting, orchestral performance, jazz, and music education, Entreparentes remains uniquely personal. “Music is, for me, something very natural,” he says with characteristic simplicity. “Like the sea is for someone who knows how to swim.” Each of his musical worlds enriches the others, yet performing alongside family carries its own unmistakable emotional resonance. “This one is special,” he admits, “because these musicians are extraordinarily talented people with whom I also share family life. We are very fortunate to be able to make music together.”
That gratitude extends beyond the ensemble itself. As the group prepares to perform against one of the Azores’ most breathtaking natural backdrops, overlooking the Atlantic from the historic Forte de Santa Catarina, Antero expresses heartfelt appreciation to MiratecArts founder Terry Costa for the invitation. He is convinced that the journey to Pico will become “another privileged and special experience,” enriched by both the beauty of the setting and the unique character of the Música no Forte series.
Ultimately, Entreparentes reminds us that the finest music often begins not in concert halls or conservatories but within families themselves. It begins when parents sing to children, when siblings discover harmonies together, when grandparents unknowingly become the guardians of melodies that later generations carry forward. Their concerts are more than performances; they are living acts of cultural continuity. Every rearranged folk song, every newly discovered harmony, every familiar melody heard through fresh ears quietly affirms that tradition does not survive by resisting change. It survives because each generation lovingly receives it, reshapes it with its own voice, and offers it, renewed yet unmistakably familiar, to the generations that follow.
In the hands of Entreparentes, Portuguese popular music becomes precisely what it has always been at its best: not simply something to be performed, but something to be inherited, shared, and loved.
Based on an interview in Diário Insular-José Lourenço-director. Photos from Sanjoaninas 2026