Com Palavras Amo

Com Palavras Amo was one of many installations in which I had the privilege of collaborating with the Companhia de Música Teatral. But this project is much more than its final form.

It is a celebration of Eugénio de Andrade; a multifaceted poet, complex personality, and wordsmith. It is a community project where I witnessed some of the most poetic and unforgettable moments of my life, starring people of a human beauty that is difficult to describe. It is an installation where words cease to be mere meaning and become sound material: clouds of phonemes, small musical pieces, fragile solos, voices from different countries, ages, ethnicities and levels of literacy.

On my various trips to Fundão, I watched illiterate people read poems by Eugénio de Andrade; I saw a Ukrainian mother teach an orphan girl to recite a poem about a snail; I heard a spontaneous choir singing songs of the revolution; I talked to people whose lives carry hard and inspiring stories; I witnessed unlikely reunions: between people, between these people and Fundão, between these people and Eugénio's poetry.

In another project, I also had the privilege of hearing Eugénio de Andrade's poetry recited in Guinea-Bissau Creole, Mandjaca, Fula and other languages of that country.

I have always had an affinity for poetry, but this project profoundly transformed my relationship with poets and with language itself. It made me a more attentive, more critical, more receptive reader. In short, it was a truly transformative project and a moment in which I was able to further deepen my relationship with my mentor/friend Paulo Maria Rodrigues.