The new luso-american star in the USA
(english version edited by António Simões)
Sarah Borges (foto cortesia Sarah Borges.com)
With an album — “Silver City” — . It is praised by the critics and shows full of fans, Sarah Borges is already a “star” in the Boston, MA. She is the winner of the Boston Music Awards prize for “best local female vocalist”. Some critics say that she is the “new next star” in the music scene, but she prefers to work hard and play live shows full of energy, concentrating in her work. Born in Taunton, MA, Sarah is of Portuguese descent. Her grandparents are from Terceira (Azores), Amelia Fagundes and John Barros, and she grew up in the Portuguese community. Her father is a member of the Portuguese American Club of Taunton, and she is involved in the community’s affairs for long time. She received a scholarship from this Club, likes portuguese food, specially ‘caldo verde” (kale soup) and last June played for the Portuguese Festival in Cambridge.
Tell us about your Portuguese roots.
Amelia Fagundes, my great-grandmother, came to this country
when she was 17 all alone from Terceira, moved to Taunton
and was a homemaker. John Barros, my great-grandfather,
also from Terceira, came to join his brother when he was
21, moved to Taunton and worked at the Reed and Barton
silver factory.
These are my mother’s grandparents. All four of my father’s
grandparents came from mainland Portugal, but it is not
possible to get information about them.
What about your parents?
Both of my parents were born in Taunton, MA, and they have
since retired. My dad was a mailman for the post office,
and my mom was a teacher and also worked for the state of
MA in the mental health field.
What
do you appreciate most in the Portuguese culture and
communities?
I appreciate the sense of family. On my dad’s side of the
family there were always aunts and uncles around, big
dinners on Sunday, etc. He was raised not only by his
mother (my grandmother) but also by his aunts and
great-aunts as well.
What
part of you is more Portuguese than
American?
It is my love of home. I love to cook and keep my house.
And I feel more connected to my family than I think is the
norm in America.
Are
you planning in the future to write some songs about the
Portuguese reality, or heritage, like Nelly Furtado, for
example?
All of my songs are about my life experience in some way.
Our record is called “Silver City.” It is named after my
home town of Taunton, MA where there are silver factories.
My family worked there. So I think the songs are about
Portuguese reality. It is like to grow up in the same town
where your family lived. In some cases how they immigrated
to this country, and how one goes about making a life in
the world.
Was
being a musician your childhood dream? Did your parents
support you? When did you start learning and play
music?
Performing was my childhood dream. I did a lot of theater
and singing from the time I was a little kid. I have all of
that background to rely on. I didn’t start playing guitar
until I was in high school, and started playing in bands
shortly thereafter.
My parents and family have always been very supportive of
me. When I was a kid, they were at every single concert,
recital and show. It’s not possible for them to do that now
because we play all over the country, but they still come
out all of the time when we play in Massachusetts.
Do
you know any Portuguese singer or composer? What do you
think about the Portuguese music scene?
I really like Gal Costa. She is from Brazil and she sings
in Portuguese, and the guitar player in my band recently
introduced me to her music. It was unlike anything I’d ever
heard before.
Do
you like fado?
I do like fado. It is very beautiful. There is a great
Portuguese restaurant here in the Boston area, called the
Sunset Grill, and they have traditional fado music on the
weekends. It’s a treat to be able to sit and listen to them
and enjoy the food and the atmosphere.
How
do you define yourself as a musician? What musicians or
songwriters influenced you most?
I’m just a lover of music. I really do love all styles and
kinds of music.The music that my parents exposed me to when
I was younger, were the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob
Dylan, lots of classic rock and folk music, definitely
played a part in shaping my music taste. And also living in
Boston, when I was a college student and just learning
about how to be in a band. There are so many musicians here
and I learned a lot by spending a lot of time watching live
music.
Critics
say that your music is a mix of country, blues, punk,
rock’n roll and “Americana” music. Do you feel that you are
pioneering a new genre or style, or are these formats
simply the consequence of your musical
influences?
I think our music is a reflection of who I am and my band
members’ musical taste. It’s like looking at someone’s
record collection. No one has only country records or only
rock records. So we don’t have only country songs or only
rock songs.
Aren’t
you afraid that appealing to a wide spread of audiences
will eventually constraint in some way, your work in the
future?
Not at all. We live in a time when people have access to
anything they want anytime. Being flexible and taking a
broad view of music has only been an advantage for us
rather than a constraint.
You
first CD, “Silver City”, is a success in the radio stations
and your shows are packed with fans, but you are not a full
time musician. Why is that?
That’s certainly my goal. I think we will probably get
there in the next year or so. Keeping my regular job part
of the time allows me the freedom to go on tour for weeks
at a time while knowing that my rent and bills will get
paid.
You
said that this CD is the first time that you made a piece
of work that’s a good representation of who you are as a
person. “It’s my heart, my head and my soul”. That’s the
reason you took more then a year to complete it? Do you
think this CD represents you, musically, better than a live
show?
I think the live shows represent us more accurately. One of
the best parts of music is how it makes people feel, and
being able to interact with the audience makes for a great
live show. There wasn’t really a reason it took us so long
to make the record, just circumstances at the time. We were
still in the beginning stages of forming our band, so that
had something to do with it as well.
What
did you learn in doing this CD that you’re going to use in
the next one? When it will be out?
The next one will be out in Spring of 2007. I think we did
learn that we enjoy having a record that’s a sum of all we
like about music, and that has a variety of styles on it,
so we’ll do that again this time. We’ll also bring an
element of our live performances to the table.
What
is your process of composing? Do you write alone or on the
road? Where do your ideas come from?
I usually write the basic idea of a song alone and then
bring it in to rehearsal. The rest of the band helps to
make it into a complete version. Ideas come from chord
progressions that I come up with on guitar, or an idea of a
story I want to tell.
The
music in your first CD is not only full of energy, but also
enhances melodies served by your excellent voice. We can
see clearly that you can transform any music into your own
style. I think Boston is not a prolific city in terms of
blues or blues grass or Americana. Where did you learn to
sing like this?
I just love to sing and have done it my whole life. I
learned to sing listening to records and the radio in my
bedroom. If you listen to the radio enough, you’ll hear so
many different styles of music. So I learned to sing in a
lot of different styles. It’s easy now to make my voice
sound like whatever the song calls for. It is almost like
wearing different costumes. So I just apply it to songs. I
write and try to think of the most appropriate style for
each one.
You
won the local female vocalist in the Boston Music Awards
this year. What does this award mean to
you?
It’s an honor. When I was a kid I would always see the
morning after photos in the Boston newspapers. The people
were like movie stars to me. It’s amazing that I’ve come
this far.