A gloriously heartbreaking set released an emotional climacteric reeking of tragedy, desperation and unexploited what-ifs. AJ Dehany, London Jazz News
As we say in Turkish, she has ten talents on her ten fingers. Başak Yavuz, Jazz Dergisi
Doesn't sound directly like anything. Diedrich Diederichsen, TAZ
EROSÃO: THE ALBUM
After 20 years working intensively as a drummer, singer, producer and composer in the city of São Paulo, the Brazilian based in Duisburg Mariá Portugal (Quartabê, Arrigo Barnabé, Elza Soares) released her new album EROSÃO in November 2021. The album have a digital, vinyl and fanzine release, all designed by Maria Cau Levy.
EROSÃO has three layers: song material, acoustic improvisation and electronic manipulation. In each layer exists both the reminiscence and the oblivion of the precedent, like a stone that is built up of overlapping layers that also modify each other through mechanical and chemical processes.
Mariá Portugal’s songs are the first layer and the basis of the project. As any Brazilian singer/songwriter, she has strong roots in the Brazilian song tradition, going from Dorival Caymmi to Itamar Assumpção and Arrigo Barnabé to Caetano Veloso, besides being strongly influenced by same-generation composers, such as Negro Leo, Iara Rennó, Kiko Dinucci and Maria Beraldo.
In the beginning of 2019, still living in São Paulo, Mariá made a series of improvisation sessions using the musical material of eight of these songs. These sessions took place with several musicians from the prolific experimental São Paulo scene (Metá Metá, Música de Selvagem, Quarteto Solto, Quartabê). The instrumentation was composed of saxophone, clarinet/bass clarinet, guitar, piano, double bass, drums and voice. Since it was not possible to acoustically isolate her voice from the drums, Mariá also invited Tó Brandileone (5 a Seco) to improvise as the singer of the songs. This improvisation session became the second layer of EROSÃO.
In 2020, she brought the resultant audio material to Moers, Germany, where she went to spend a year as the mœrs festival 13th Improviser in Residence. Living in Moers during the pandemic, Mariá edited and processed the material, further adding overdubs of her voice to the recordings. This became the third and last layer of the album.
The result is a full-length album with 6 tracks with different relations to the original improvisation material generated in São Paulo, ranging from little alteration (like “Dois Litorais”, which involved no editing, only voice overdubbing) to totally processed tracks with no relation to the original material (like “Telepatía”), made with material from other songs and non-intended noise from the recording session. In electronically manipulating audio of improvised and acoustic music, Mariá Portugal tries to play with determination and indetermination, control and release, acoustic and synthetic.
EROSÃO VIVA (LIVE ENSEMBLES)
To bring EROSÃO to the stage, Mariá Portugal has two different ensembles: EROSÃO SEPTET, mainly based in Cologne, and EROSÃO PERCUSSION TRIO, based in Berlin. Each ensemble highlights a certain aspect of the album, “eroding” its musical material through improvisation and taking it to unknown places.
EROSÃO PERCUSSION TRIO
MARIÁ PORTUGAL, drums, percussion
EMILIO GORDOA, percussion
BURKHARD BEINS, percussion
Mariá Portugal (BR) joins forces with Berlin-based
percussionists Burkhard Beins (DE) and Emilio Gordoa
(MX) to form the EROSÃO Percussion Trio, now releasing
their debut album as a group by the Label Fun in The Church in September 2025. Their performances are
deeply rooted in improvisation, showcasing a wide array
of percussion instruments—from the traditional jazz
drum kit and bowed cymbals to unconventional objects
and other non-pitched percussion. The trio’s sound is
further enriched by the percussive use of electric bass
and live electronics, creating a unique interplay where
Brazilian popular music meets Berliner Echtzeitmusik.
Originally formed to bring Portugal’s 2021 album EROSÃO to the stage, EROSÃO Percussion Trio is now preparing to release an album
featuring new material that builds on their shared exploration of percussive sounds and voice.
The trio’s work merges composed structures with improvisation, using non-pitched percussion (drums, bowed cymbals, metal objects,
wood, straws, chains, and other unconventional percussive instruments). In addition, the trio also uses field recordings and live sound
processing by Gordoa, along with a percussive electric bass played by Beins. All these elements interact dynamically with Portugal's
voice, alternating between blending and contrasting, reflecting the core of their sonic exploration.
The EROSÃO Percussion Trio began as a performance project for Mariá Portugal’s album EROSÃO (Selo Risco/Fun in The Church, 2021),
which fuses her Brazilian musical roots with free improvisation and electronic experimentation. To bring this project to the stage,
Portugal invited Gordoa and Beins, two prominent percussionists from Berlin’s Echtzeitmusik scene.
Since its origins, the trio has toured
extensively across Germany, from Duisburg to Munich. Their diverse cultural backgrounds have shaped a unique collective sound and
creative process, which is reflected in their new album–a result of an extensive period of research and collective composition, where the
electric bass and electronics were added to the group’s percussive palette.
The album features new compositions by Portugal alongside fresh renditions of Brazilian classics, including Pulsar by Caetano Veloso and
Augusto de Campos, and Correnteza by Tom Jobim and Luiz Bonfá. It highlights the interplay between Portugal’s voice, deeply rooted in
Brazilian song tradition, and the non-tempered sounds of the percussion instruments. These sonic landscapes, sometimes long and
contemplative, others energetic and ebullient, transcend conventional harmonic boundaries of song arrangement, opening the door to a
rich and unpredictable sound experience.
EROSÃO SEPTET
MARIÁ PORTUGAL, drums, percussion
LOTTE ANKER, sax
ANGELIKA NIESCIER, alto sax
MATTHIAS MÜLLER, trombone
MORITZ WESP, trombone
CARL LUDWIG HÜBSCH, tuba
REZA ASKARI, double bass
EROSÃO SEPTET, composed by outstanding musicians from the Cologne, Copenhagen and Berlin jazz/experimental scene, uses song as raw material for free improvisation. Mariá's songs are intertwined with other external elements, such as Brazilian musical tradition, international pop music, European classical music and pieces from the other musicians in the septet. This "samples" form a musical compendium with which the musicians can freely play and relate to when improvising. With this approach, Portugal seeks to challenge the conventional idea of authorship and established musical hierarchies between voice and instruments and between composition and improvisation, subverting the common format of a pop/jazz-song concert.
This project is currently supported by Musikfonds e.V.