Duo Caamaño&Ameixeiras: Confluence of Tradition and Innovation at its best

Loulé, Portugal – While some performances at the Med 23 Festival were lackluster (very few), the opportunity was to take refuge in the most intimate stages to escape.  There, a surprise could be waiting for you.

At least, in those small environments you could breathe more proximity and appreciate further authenticity and freshness, as was the case of the Galician duet Caamaño&Ameixeiras, with their accordion and violin, respectively.  Their performance on the tiny Hamman stage, a place with charming trees and hanging fruits, attracted the curiosity of many; the place was full.

Hailing from the green landscapes of Galicia, a region in Northwestern Spain renowned for its rich cultural heritage, Duo Caamaño&Ameixeiras consists of two exceptionally gifted musicians: Sabela Caamaño and Antía Ameixeiras.

For them, the songs in their expression of collective knowledge, or in their traditional dress, are on a continuous journey, with certain stops, where they absorb new connotations.  Like the piece “Maneo de Cambre”, where Antía Ameixeiras, the violin player and vocalist, explained: “A Galician took it to Venezuela, and it came back again to Galicia; it was something a little bit different from the previous one. We like the idea that traditional music is passed from people to people and in the end, it ends up being a collective creation. We like to feel part of that chain”.  

“Maneo de Cambre” is part of their first album Aire, and the recording version features the participation of renowned vocalist Silvia Pérez Cruz and the clarinet of Carola Ortiz.  This album contains traditional tracks and some originals.

Ameixeiras was very eloquent in describing and putting each song in context and talked about what they felt in the songs, especially in the instrumental tracks.  A song like “Vals de Pasmar” was another piece that had an explanation. Antía said before the song that the capitalist system forces us to produce things all the time, work all the time and in this song, we invite people to stop, we invite people to do nothing, to empty the head of all content.  “For us, this is an important demand,” she emphasized before starting to play it.

The Galician tradition of dancing loose can be as fascinating as dancing very close, according to them. “Dancing loose and looking at each other directly in the eyes can be intense, as well,” the violinist concluded.

At the end of the night, the song “Aire” was the communion of the audience and the artists, as the crowd chanted a refrain that until a minute ago was unknown to them.   Simple, direct, and genuine, this duo revitalized the tradition. The audience, on the other hand, offered their gratitude, singing the last line while leaving the place jubilant and happy. It was a bracing and cathartic night.