The aim is to convey the unsettling strangeness of language. The voice emanating from the amplifier lacks the distinctive physical timbre of the natural human voice. Starting from fragments of meaning, it is precisely within the mechanical process—at a breaking point—that a longing for communication suddenly takes shape.
A human moment bursts forth in a flash; the whole subject is found for mere moments when the gaze has located the voice and returns it to the body.
It is with these beautiful words that NU NO, or Nuno Marques Pinto, expresses the nature of ‘Canto Ventríloquo’. An apt title, and very much in the image of its creator, for this new album, which will be presented at ZDB 8 Marvila on May 17, following an artistic residency taking place at that same venue between April 22 and May 7. An actor, performer, radio broadcaster, and seasoned, charismatic musician, Nuno Marques Pinto has a long and focused career, ranging from his time with the Escola da Noite company to the founding of Teatro Marionet, both in Coimbra, to performances with artists such as Jonathan Uliel Saldanha and Alexandre Estrela, radio plays, and live performances—both solo and, more recently, with the band Nu No e o Resto. Following releases such as ‘Turva Lingua’ and ‘Invenção Única,’ this new album by NU NO, released by the French label La République des Granges, continues its process of disrupting the canonical and formal logics of language, where the body becomes voice to then assume a multiplicity of signifiers and meanings, in the form of obsessive repetitions, screams, rhythmic palates, processing, cut-and-paste, singing, or recitations with as much of Alan Vega as of Ghédalia Tazartès in spirit, but embodied in a reality—or multiple realities—very much his own.
BS
