Whisky Galore Fundraiser- Help Tavira artists to perform in Glasgow!

Tavira and Glasgow have a cultural connection that is about to become even more potent. In 2019 two Scottish poets performed in Tavira, together with their Portuguese colleagues, and this year the event will take place in Glasgow.

Unfortunately, there is not enough money for travel and hotels. From the total costs of € 6.000 still € 4.000 need to be raised.

Why is the connection between Tavira and Glasgow important? Tavira’s famous poet, Álvaro de Campos, was born here in 1890 and moved to Glasgow to study naval engineering. Álvaro de Campos including his birthday, only existed in the poet Fernando Pessoa’s imagination. He was one of his heteronyms, the writer Pessoa invented to write in different styles. 

Since the Scottish poets performed in Tavira in 2019, the relationship between the two towns has deepened. Poetry does not only exist as printed and/or spoken word: real meetings with real people from different backgrounds contribute to mutual understanding and inspiration.

The relationship between Glasgow and Tavira has led to the development of a yearly local programme in partnership with Cheeky Besom Productions from Glasgow:  EXCLUSIVE Birthday Party of Álvaro de Campos, presented first in the Calton Bar and since 2022 in the Scotia Bar, Glasgow.

Tavira’s poets now have the opportunity to perform in Glasgow. Having received an invitation from Colin Herd from the University of Glasgow in April 2024, the artists have made funding applications and travel plans. Since the funds made available by the University of Glasgow cover only part of the costs, more money is needed, and for that purpose a GoFundMe page has been opened. € 4.000 have to be found before August 10, because bookings will have to be confirmed.

Direct link
https://www.gofundme.com/f/whisky-galore-help-tavira-artists-to-perform-in-glasgow

The five artists who will travel are poets Vitor Cardeira and Pedro Jubilot, pianist Marcelo Montes, photographer/documentarist Vinicius Almada, and director Tela Leão. During the performances, Tela will project the translations in English and Portuguese.

In Glasgow they will join the Scottish poets who came to Tavira in 2019:  Christine De Luca (former Makar –“poet laureate”- of Edinburgh and translator of Portuguese poetry into the Shetland dialect Shaetlan), Christie Williamson (poet and translator of Garcia Lorca into Shaetlan), and as a new addition Taylor Strickland, a Glaswegian poet and translator who has written poems about how he “meets” Álvaro de Campos in the city. Not only poetry by the Tavira and Glasgow poets will heard, but also works by Álvaro de Campos and Edwin Morgan.

Tela Leao, the director of the performance, says, “I like to call this performance a piece of static theatre, a concept created by Fernando Pessoa himself, by which he means ‘the revelation of souls through the words exchanged’.”

The programme will have a musical component as well: works by Ruy Coelho, Pessoa’s personal friend, and Luis Tinoco, one of the best known contemporary Portuguese composers. Also works of Craig Armstrong, a Scottish composer of modern orchestral music, electronic music and film scores, and Sir James McMillan, a Scottish classical composer, will be included.

You can help the artists by visiting the GoFundMe page.

Here again is the direct link
https://www.gofundme.com/f/whisky-galore-help-tavira-artists-to-perform-in-glasgow

Worth noting – In 2023, during the annual Álvaro de Campos festival programme in Tavira, local foreign residents developed creative engagement opportunities with artists. In particular, I helped organise SEU VIZINHO | YOUR NEIGHBOUR, an open mic night for writers, poets, singers, and musicians from all nationalities. The local art gallery ARTESIS, co-owned by the Scot, Ian McIntosh, created an Art Exhibition by residents from many different nationalities.

Tela reflected, “This is how we are trying to involve and strengthen the international community relationships as much as I believe Pessoa himself would have done.”

Notas sobre Tavira (excerpt)

Álvaro de Campos

I finally arrived in the town where I spent my infancy.

I got down from the train, I remembered, I looked, I saw, I compared.

(All of this took the length of time of a tired look).

Everything was old where I was young.

Article in the Portugal Resident about the visit of the Scottish poets to Tavira in 2019.