Auction P4051 (Lisbon & Online)
» Lot 25
November 12, 2009 9:00PM — Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon & Online
« Previous Lot | Next Lot »
|
António Variações (1944-1984)
Original cassetes | forty-one cassettes of António Variações
Sold by € 1,150.00
Prices shown include the buyers premium and are rounded to the nearest Euro (no VAT included)
Lot description
Forty-one (60 and 90 minute) cassettes – BEREC, TDK, BASF, SANYO, SONOVOX – stored at the premises of EMI-Valentim de Carvalho, which were at the heart of the twelve unreleased songs that constituted the Humanos project; with annotations handwritten by António Variações on various subjects, namely on musical content, locations, addresses, among others. The cassettes have, since 2004, been numbered, labelled and catalogued from 1 to 45 by journalist Nuno Galopim (numbers 6, 10, 15, 17 and 39 are missing). Miguel F. Cadete, journalist of the daily newspaper Público, describes the contents of the cassettes as follows: “At home, alone, he performs songs to a rhythm set by the clapping of his hands or by mimicking the sound of instruments. Some of these songs are at such an early stage that they do not have lyrics yet. The sound of the instruments in these tapes is sometimes made solely of the beat of a basic rhythm box or by the muffled sound made by the band that accompanied him, i.e., guitars and drums, a testimony of a sense urgency that is moving to say the least. [...] Inside Variações’ chest there are also versions, elemental versions, of the themes that make up the Humanos album and also of songs that were released during António’s lifetime. But there are also songs like “Guerra nuclear” and “Reconciliação” that remain unpublished. Versions of songs he performed live can also be found, such as, the Kinks theme It’s Now or Never” popularized by Elvis Presley. There is a complete record of a show at Rock Rendezvous in which the artist was introduced quite simply as “António”, and another record of a concert at Trumps discotheque. Several versions of “Toma o Comprimido que isso passa-te”, the theme played when António Variações first appeared at Júlio Isidro’s TV programmes in February 1981, as well as “Não me consumas”, a theme which is part of the Humanos record. A version of “...Que pena seres vigarista”, one of the songs of the album “Anjo da Guarda”, with Fontes Rocha on the Portuguese guitar and the song “Estou além” tested out with different lyrics, as well as an interview with the approximate duration of 40 minutes on Rui Pêgo’s radio programme.”