With the rare format of a violin and percussion duo, the partnership between Maria do Mar and César Burago focuses on detail, nuance and subtlety, in a context of structured improvisation and research into the timbral possibilities offered by the combination of the instruments in question, taking their particular acoustic characteristics to the limit. Essential figures in the Portuguese experimental and improvised scenes, the violinist (Lantana, Arpyies, gRãO, Mayhuma, Luis Lopes, Rodrigo Amado, Lula Pena, Joelle Léandre, Carlos ‘Zíngaro’, collaborations in projects by Ernesto Rodrigues, Yaw Tembe, Joana Guerra) and the percussionist (groups with Sei Miguel, collaborations with Manuel Mota, Rafael Toral, Oren Marshall and Ernesto Rodrigues) particularly appreciate the blurring of aesthetic boundaries and the cross-cutting between languages (classical and jazz, for example), on a plane of metric possibilities and impossibilities in which the violin can be used to create textures and the percussion to build melodic planes.

Dancer, choreographer and singer. Since 1995, she has worked in dance, theatre and music with various creators. In music, she has played in Nuno Rebelo’s Poliploc Orchestra (1993/1995), in the OVO musical project (2000/2006) and, since 2010, with AbztraQt Sir Q. She has taken part in various improvised music concerts with different musicians, including: Carlos Zíngaro, Nuno Rebelo, José Bruno Parrinha, Paulo Curado, Ernesto Rodrigues, Paulo Chagas, Maria do Mar, Carla Santana, Manuel Guimarães, Francisco Trindade, Anna Piosik, Bernardo Alvarez, Joana Guerra, Helena Espvall, Fernando Simões, Yaw Temble, Ricardo Freitas, Ivan Franco, Carlos Santos, Nuno Torres and many others, where she has been developing and defining a more experimental vocal language. She also participates in ensembles such as Variable Geometry Orchestra and IKB, and was part of the trio Morf3ma with José Bruno Parrinha and Gonçalo Castro (2016/2017). She is currently part of a voice and electronics duet with Carla Santana and the improvised music group Lantana.