Rehearsals...

I collected Silvia and Rodrigo from the airport on Monday night and on Tuesday morning the first rehearsal got under way. Up to that point, none of us had been in the same hemisphere together before, let alone the same room and yet here we are , with our first public performance on Friday morning when we play live on Radio Cornwall at around 11 to !1.30 am! Fortunately, the chemistry between the musicians is extremely strong and the first results as they emerged were incredibly pleasing. The way in which Neil integrates the Cornish/Celtic flavour into the music makes it seem so natural that you would think that it had always been part of Brazilian music. Silvia's enthusiasm for our re-interpretation of her songs is extremely heartening and she happily adapts to accommodate our new input. Pete K's attention to detail and grasp of the grooves is second to none and Rodrigo, Silvia's partner, who is also a fine musician as well as being a prominent recording engineer in Brazil, has been invaluable in pin-pointing fine detail and making harmonic suggestions. I sit there on my cajon (that sounds like a bit of a euphemism) and bash, shake and rattle my way through the proceedings, scribbling frequent illegible notes to myself about the individual songs...

As I type this I can hear the sound of Silvia warming up her voice. We are off to Penryn in a short while, where we will have our last full rehearsal before tomorrow's radio show. Then Saturday and Sunday we will be performing our first gigs - Saturday at The Eco Park, Mount Pleasant and Sunday at Miss Peapod's, Penryn. I can't wait - I haven't been involved in a project this exciting for many years. Something really special is happening here and there is now a strong possibility that this project will go to Brazil!