"Cordas do Mundo" Viola da Terra album Rafael Carvalho

“Cordas do Mundo” takes us on a journey through various sounds and musical styles: from the Azorean sounds of Tirana, to incursions into the repertoire of Portuguese Guitar, Classical Guitar and Lute, passing through Irish music or traditional Italian Mandolin, the album ends with 3 more originals by Rafael Carvalho. This is a work that the musician has wanted to record for many years, and is mainly the result of the constant research and transcription of pieces that Rafael Carvalho has carried out to enrich the instrumental repertoire that is taught and played with Viola da Terra “Cordas do Mundo” is his 6th solo album and has 14 instrumental tracks, with the main objective of continuing his work to disseminate the enormous melodic and harmonic potential of Viola da Terra.

CORDAS DO MUNDO:

1.º Che Ridere! - Ernesto Becucci
2.º Tarantella Napoletana – Tradicional Itália
3.º Tirana – Tradicional Terceira (do Cancioneiro de César das Neves e Gualdino de Campos)
4. º Pasodoble Olé Manuel dos Santos – Rodrigo Valério Silva e José Llata Fernández
5. º The Skye Boat Song – Tradicional Escócia
6.º - One Seventy Four – Turlough O’ Carolan
7.º Janela ao infinito – Mário Pacheco
8.º Dança Palaciana – Carlos Paredes
9.º Mi Favorita – Anónimo
10.º Sentinelas – Rafael Carvalho
11.º The Irish Washerwoman – Tradicional Irlanda
12.º La Partida – Tradicional Vezenuela
13.º Obsessão – Rafael Carvalho
14.º Chorinho Açoriano – Rafael Carvalho

About the Author: Rafael Costa Carvalho was born in Ribeira Quente in September 22, 1980. In 1994 he learned to play Viola da Terra* with Carlos Quental and in the next year he was already providing training in the Viola da Terra School of Ribeira Quente. Was a founding member of the Group of Violas/Revelers of Ribeira Quente in 1996 and of the group Musica Nostra in 2005. 

Currently Rafael Carvalho is responsible for the Viola da Terra and Guitar School of Ribeira Quente, an institution that has graduated dozens of musicians who have ensured the continuity of the groups and traditions that existed in the parish and were becoming extinct.

Rafael has developed a set of online classes of Viola da Terra to support people who have no access to a Viola da Terra teacher and has maintained the site www.violadaterra.webs.com, which is the first one solely dedicated to the Viola da Terra, with frequent updates to its blog.

*Viola da Terra: also known as wire guitar or two-hearted guitar is a string instrument typical of the Azores, Portugal. The origin of the Viola da Terra is related to the presence of the Portuguese viola or "guitar", brought from the Portuguese mainland in the early settlement of the Azores.

The Viola da Terra consists of a high ressonance box, narrow and shaped like an eight, with a small waist, long arm and scale that goes up to its mouth, with twenty-one points. It features twelve wire strings, arranged in five arcelas: the first three are doubles and the following two are triple. The opening in the lid has the shape of two hearts.

With particular characteristics and sound, the Viola da Terra comes in two main types: the viola from São Miguel and the viola from Terceira. The Viola da Terra  can be found in almost all the islands of the Azores archipelago, varying in their building, stringing, tuning and playing techniques.