We meet Marco Mezquida (Maó, 1987) and Salvador Sobral (Lisbon, 1989) at the Casa Seat in Barcelona. Because there is a piano. In fact, it is Mezquida's piano, an almost hundred-year-old Steinway that the pianist bought but did not fit anywhere, and between one thing and the other he agreed with Casa Seat to leave it there so that other musicians can also use it. They are rehearsing for the concert at the Teatre Grec this Saturday, an unpublished duo that they have titled Cosa de dois.
It will be a special performance, and to a certain extent fortuitous, because simultaneously they had been offered to act separately at the Grec: Sobral – far away is that Eurovision in which he won in 2017 – with his sister Luísa, but she resigned because she was expecting a child – Salvador, born a month ago; when Mezquida was offered the chance to play at the Grec he proposed it to Sobral: “I didn't want to do something with a band but rather a two-way thing that we could create our universe. Someone with whom without almost knowing each other I had the feeling that we could trust each other. 'It's at the Teatre Grec and it will be one of the happiest days of my life', I wrote to him on Instagram, because I didn't even have his contact".
They already knew each other from the time they were circulating at the same time on the Barcelona jazz scene, around 2011, and they had shared jam sessions, without going any further. “He already played with great sensitivity, I already saw that he was the Bernardo Sassetti of Menorca”, says Sobral in his fluent Catalan. "And he was the Chet Baker of Portugal," says Mezquida. And the Portuguese admits that “yes, he was obsessed, at that time”.
“I had the feeling that we would understand each other from the first moment. I love accompanying, he is an artist of the songs. I thought we could do something nice, without shouting too much, with a repertoire that we feel like...”, develops the pianist. “And that we can fly, because a lot happens on Sílvia and Marco's album”, says Sobral. Pérez Cruz – who has shared albums and duo concerts with Mezquida, but also other projects – comes up several times in the conversation, and shares the approach to music based on multilingualism and diverse styles with Sobral, who assures that “she is the singer who most inspires me in life, without a doubt”.
Among the songs they will play, there will be songs from Portuguese, but also tributes to musicians and songs they like, "and in many languages," insists Sobral -who usually sings in Portuguese, Spanish and English-, before announcing a premiere: El nostre amor vindrà, a song composed between the two for the occasion, and the first that Sobral writes in Catalan.
They hope that it is only a first step on a joint path, but Mezquida also recalls that “he has many projects, so do I. And very nice things will happen to him before the end of the year and he has to savor it”. Sobral jokes and says that he may have to do an opera: "Another Aida"...
He also explains that he often comes to Barcelona, and that in September, for La Mercè, he will perform with his group from here, Noko Woi, and in March he will probably return solo. “This year I've already come about seven times... Maybe I should move. I'd love to. These days we are in Poblenou, by the sea, with parks... it is a perfect place. Lisbon is very beautiful but it does not have the cosmopolitanism of Barcelona. It is very small, my country...”.
Catalan version, here
