Luís Fernandes from Braga and Pierce Warnecke from California have been invited by Faro Municipal Theatre for another of their artist residencies on the island in the middle of Ria Formosa.

Installed in a house in the central area of the town, they revealed to Lusa that they have done "many hours" of recordings in several places, both in high and low tide, registering both artificial and natural sounds that now they are going to work, pointed Luís Fernandes.

There were seven days of "exploratory" work of capturing 'samples' - small sound samples - which will then be worked "in various analogue and digital devices" to produce "rhythms, harmonies or melodies", said Pierce Warnecke.

"We found, for example, many poles that resonated in the wind and produced tones, notes even. One, on the edge of the primary school, we turned into a sound, almost a chord", revealed Luís Fernandes.

Underwater sounds captured through hydrophones, the "quay creaking" or the "noise of boat engines under water" and that "many people may never have heard" or the "noise of some animals" are some of the samples that they take from the island and that they will now try to transform into various musical soundscapes.

"Much of what we will be doing will be based on what has been done here in Culatra, so the island will play a central role in what will be produced," he added.

The two musicians met eight years ago at an electronic music festival in Madeira and since then they have been looking to work together, something that "was finally possible with the invitation for this residency".

The goal was to produce a record with the sound collections, but the idea of creating a show seduced them, and they are trying to find a way to elaborate "graphic scores" from the information extracted from the recordings and that can "transform the audio analysis into visual elements" serving afterwards as "score for improvisations", advanced Luís Fernandes.

The days of contact with the Culatrense community involved explaining the work they have been doing and confided in the interpretation of one of the residents who classified his art as a "sound sculpture".

"Really, we removed some less interesting frequencies, we forced others, we froze small portions and stretched them. From raw sounds, we worked on them and moulded them into something that we think has musical, textural and timbric interest", explained the Portuguese musician, who has been involved in projects for several years, from fish:plane to the duo with Joana Gama.

The idea of Teatro das Figuras is that these residencies will take place twice a year, "once in the spring, and another in October, outside the summer season", as they want "to provide a calmer, more introspective climate for artists to create", Faro's deputy mayor Paulo Santos revealed.

The mayor stressed that the actions have happened in partnership with the Culatra Residents Association, with the provision of a house, but the intention is that the municipality "establish a permanent structure of cultural creation on the island, not only in the area of music, but also in dance or theatre, being able to bring creative projects throughout the year."

The first artistic residency took place in 2019 with the US artist Julie Byrne and for 2020 one by the singer and songwriter Silvia Perez Cruz was scheduled, which had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

For October "another residency is planned", whose name has not yet been indicated, but "the idea is to have some periodicity", emphasised Paulo Santos.

Photo: João Domingos