Luís Antero is a field recordist based on the central region of Portugal, a rural area marked by a unique cultural, natural and ethnographical environment. Luís lives in a deep connection to his surroundings. His respect for nature and the sonic heritage moves him to keep recording and recording the enormous acoustic potential of this beautiful part of the country.
Luís is moved by the goal of collecting the immaterial patrimony, an idea that grew up on him after becoming a father. It was the sense of identity and belonging and probably the idea of roots that he was then starting to create around him, that made him trace the goal to document the land, the mountains and the people he already knew so well.
Luís gets inspiration in every object and situation. His territory is his source. He’s always collecting his own sonic memories so to keep them alive and feed the next generations with the richness of oral tradition and the natural environment. He started his sonic collection in the Fall of 2008 and since then, he has released twenty-one field recording albums on labels from China to Ireland.
Luís makes no manipulation or treatment to the sound track he records. He states that it’s his own sensibility and belonging to the place he documents, rather than his technical skills, that helps him capture the soul of the region.
Luís keeps his recordings available on the web as a means to share his sonic memories. He also develops a podcast which he feeds with portuguese and worldwide soundscapes, from his own recordings or other artist’s.
He is also responsible for field recordings to the project Sons do Arco Ribeirinho Sul, based at OUT.FEST, the Exploratory Music Festival of Barreiro, integrating oral patrimony with experimental music.
Field recordings in the work of Luís Antero is more than an artistic inspiration or material. It’s also an ecological demand, a documentary urge and a kind of public service. It’s all about keeping alive the collective memory and Luís is a master on what he gives of himself to this work.
