34 years ago, we woke up with the news that António Variações had passed away. For most of the ones reading this, that would not be Portuguese, this name will not say anything, but for those that lived and grew up during the 80’s in Portugal the name says lots.
On that time he said that his music was something between Braga (a capital of the district where he was born) and New York (where he prepared one of his LP’s). Even now, more than 3 decades later, his influence in some Portuguese groups is visible (hearable?) and it would be normal to listen to something like “this has some tones of Variações”.
He was a strange figure, singing a strange music for the beginnings of the 80’s, in a country that had left a long dictatorship a few years earlier.
But his music will stay forever. His music, a guy that didn’t know anything about music and used to sing the lyrics he would write into a small tape recorder and then take it to the musicians to transform it in musical notes.
Pragmatic Idealism 