Here’s a bit of back-ground on these people. I think the fact that they all at one time played music in Portuguese marching bands in Fall River, and then pursued professional careers as musicians; becoming well known in their prospective styles has contributed to the Portuguese community. Our neighborhood was featured in a National Geographic magazine back in 1965 because the neighborhood was considered more Portuguese than anywhere else in the country. The street I grew up on was always covered with flowers for the procession that would wind through the neighborhood, starting at the Santo Christo church. The Portuguese marching bands played almost all original compositions written by Portuguese composers, quite often the music was very dynamic and emotional, very uniquely Portuguese, and after playing this music as children in these bands, that feeling for those musical structures has stayed with them, now coming out in their classical, blues, and jazz music that they play. I work with a woman who was brought up in Portugal, and she always says that the neighbor in Fall River that we grew up in is more like Portugal from her grand-parents generation than her village in Portugal today.
I think the fact that we all came from these cold-water flats, no showers or tubs, parents working in mills for 50 hrs a week, and managed to become known in our prospective fields is a testament to our Portuguese tenacity. I visited the Azores, finding the villages my grandparents came from, and I was surprised to find that besides the weather being nicer, they were not really that different from our neighborhood. Coming from where we came from, we couldn’t help but have ties to our Portuguese heritage even if we tried.
This is Donald’s bio which comes from the New England Conservatory’s faculty page.
Donald Bravo
Bassoon
Performances with the U.S. Army Band, Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, New England Opera Company, Opera Company of Boston, and Metropolitan Opera; soloist with the Detroit Symphony, Collage New Music, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, Montreal Symphony, and Library of Congress; recordings for Deutsche Gramophone, Nonesuch, Musical Heritage Society, Delos, CRI, and with the Marlboro Festival Orchestra under Pablo Casals; principal bassoonist with Harvard Chamber Orchestra, Boston Musica Viva, Boston Ballet, Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera; featured soloist in Turin, Italy and Israel; faculty, Boston Conservatory.
Peter Amaral
Drums
Peter was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, played drums with the Fall River Santo Christo Marching Band, then went on to play with some of the most well-known musicians in the country. Peter now lives in New Mexico, and has performed with Natalie Cole throughout Europe, Frank Morgan, Eddie Harris, Richie Cole, Mose Allison, Junior Brown, Herb Ellis, and on and on. These are some the most famous R & B and jazz musicians in the country. Last year Peter performed in Thailand for three months.
Tony Medeiros
Guitar, vocals
Tony started the group, The Chili Brothers in 1979 who recorded 2 albums, featuring many of Tony’s original compositions. The second album, Empty Bottles, featured the late great Rick Danko from the group, The Band. Tony has performed with members of The Band, Hot Tuna, The Jefferson Airplane, David Letterman’s Late Nite Show Band, and countless others. On the official website of The Band, Tony is described as the “Portuguese guitar wiz.” Tony has been invited to play at the famous Kinsale Fringe Jazz Festival, which takes place in Co Cork, Ireland yearly. For the last six years, Tony has performed at the festival to sold out houses.