| .......................................THE BAND AND RECORD OF THE MONTH |
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| . | MARCH 2003 |
| Comments:
It's not easy to choose a favourite CD and a band today, among new and excellent and traditional and the old ones, it is a very difficult task, but there is one that comes from Portugal, and that have returned in a great style. Tantra is not only a common band, they are the Progressive Rock masters from Portugal, an alive legend to the side of others consecrated bands of the Progressive scene in Portugal. Their influences displays many different styles and types of music, where the sounds and the instruments are combined into one very unique sound with a special touch because they sing in portuguese language. Without doubts this band are a right presence with a brilliant achievements as: "Mistérios e Maravilhas" and "Holocausto", and of course "Terra" is the complement of this wonderful trilogy, better that two first, symphonic, extremely much more professional. Tantra and their last album "Terra" will be one of the favourites for this year and, certainly it will be in any CDs collections. Excellent and indispensable work, highly recommendable. Tantra´s
second generation:
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TANTRA
We are in Portugal, two Lisbon musicians, Manuel Cardoso and Armando Gama decided to invest in their love for Sinfonic Rock. Together, in 1975, they established what would be the basic foundations of Tantra. The name of the group was chosen by Manuel Cardoso after his Raja Yoga meditation experiences and contact with Indian culture.  In 1977 ´s winter the band gives it´s first concert in CineTeatro da Encarnação in what was to be a memorable night for the band and the public .Everyone in the audience, including the media, was ecstatic with the bands music. From that concert´s two track tape, remastered, the cd "Live Ritual" was edited. Soon the band was established as the main rock group in Portugal. The band then recorded "Mistérios e Maravilhas" (1978), the band´s first album, that did bring them to public as the only Portuguese Sinfonic Rock group to be able to put out records and back them up with live concerts all over the country with original music and portuguese lyrics.  After
a while Armando Gama left the band and was replaced, temporarely, by Pedro
Mestre. The reason for this was that the soon to be Tantra´s
keyboard player Pedro Luis still had some concerts to do with his own jazz
group and so the band needed a keyboardist for their live gigs. Before
he left the band Pedro Mestre composed a music for the band, "JI", that
was most welcome due to it´s quality and empaty with the bands spirit.
After around one year of packed live gigs all over Portugal and hard weekly rehearsals dedicated to composing new musics, the band went into studio, already with Pedro Luis on keyboards, and the colaboration of Pedro Mestre and Tony Moura, to finally record their second album "Holocausto" which was an instant success both with the press and the public. It even received a best record of the year award. Again, about one year of live concerts, now with the colaboration of Tony Moura, an experienced guitar player, that helped with the guitars that Manuel Cardoso could not play when involved with the stage teatrical scenes that ocasionally came up during the show. After these two records, with portuguese lyrics, the band decided to make a return to the roots and do an album sung in english with a Rock Sinfonic / New Wave feeling: "Humanoid Flesh" this album really worked out great live, throughout the 1980/1981´s Tour, with the public responding well to the music, but was not played on the radio and had bad critics on behalf of it´s lyrics being in english and on moving away from the Sinfonic Progressive musical line. This reaction to a natural creative mood and evolution, as the band saw it, created an unconfortable feeling in the band towards this state of things. After all, it was Tantra, the group that had started (in it´s generation) the Portuguese Rock revolution, the first to be successfull playing their own original, portuguese sung, Portuguese Rock! The group that, for years, had defended Portuguese language live and in studio was being pointed out for singing in english. The year was 1981, and the band decided to suspend it´s existence! |
.New
Release
"Terra" 01
- Solidão
Terra was Recorded in 48 tracks in Noites Longas Studios by Maria João Castanheira and mixed by Manuel Cardoso in his home studio. See some "Terra"´s ArtWork at Tantra´s Home Page. The
"Terra" cd contains two booklets. A full 12 page color grafics booklet
and a 8 page black & white booklet with all the cd lyrics and texts
and 11 tracks of Synphonic Progressive Rock with that Tantric special
Contact
Tantra:
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