BIOGRAPHY
Vítor Manuel Ferreira Rua was born in Mesão Frio on July 23, 1961. Between 1976 and 1977, he was part of the group King Fisher’s Band (Porto’s formation of folk-rock covers) initially as a keyboardist, later as a mandolinist, percussionist and singer , despite pursuing a different musical orientation than the other elements.
In 1980 he was one of the founders of Grupo Novo Rock (GNR) with whom he recorded the first two singles and the LP “Independança”.
In 1982 he met Jorge Lima Barreto with whom he formed the group Telectu. That year, the album “Ctu Telectu” was released, a transition album from rock to new improvised and “electronic live” music. He left GNR after the concert at the Vilar de Mouros Festival in 1982. In the same year, he participated as producer and composer in the phonograms of Manuela Moura Guedes (Álibi, 1982) and António Variações (Anjo da Guarda, 1983).
In 1987 he began studying contemporary music notation. In 1988, through Ama Romanta, the album “Pipocas” by PSP (Projecto Som Pop) was released. They give concerts at Rock Rendez Vous and Pinguim Café.
The maxi-single “Clássicos GNR” (1989) is released with the songs “Portugal Na CEE”, “Sê Um PSP”, “O Atleta das 7:30” and “Não À Depedência”.
He is part of the initial lineup of Plopoplot Pot. Still in 1990, he created and produced an initial anthology of new improvised music, “Vidya”, which brought together some of the main musicians in the area (Miguel Azguime, Carlos Zíngaro, Rafael Toral, Nuno Rebelo, Sei Miguel, Tozé Ferreira, Osso Exótica, J. P. Feliciano , Saheb Sarbib, Jorge Lima Barreto and Elliott Sharp, among others).
The album “Vydia” was released in 1991. That year, the album “Mimi Tão Pequena e Tão Suja” by Pós-GNR was released.
He produced the albums “Pressões Digitais” by Rui Azul and the album of the same name by “Repórter Estrábico”, both from 1994. He forms the Resoadores who perform live at Johnny Guitar. The Vidya Ensemble, created to perform some of his works, was created in 1994.
In 1995, Ananana released the album “Scratch” by Vítor Rua e os Ressoadores. In the meantime, it produced the album “Segmentos” by Perve.
The album “Vidya Ensemble – Stress/ Relax” was released in 1996. They perform live at Fundação Gulbenkian, Centro Cultural de Belém and Casa de Serralves. He also produced Coty Cream’s debut album.
In 1997 he began collaborating with director Ricardo Pais.
Telectu’s album “Solos” was released in 2000. The album includes the work “Gnoseofonia” by Victor Rua. He also entered with a composition on the phonogram “In Memoriam Peixinho”. In 2003, “Works” was published.
DISCOGRAPHY
[P.S.P.] Pipocas (LP, Ama Romanta, 1988)1987
GNR Classics (Máxi-Single, Anonymous, 1989)
Vydia (LP, Potlatch, 1991)
[Post-GNR] Mimi So Tiny and So Dirty (CD, Polygram, 1991)
[Vítor Rua and the Resonators] Scratch (CD, Ananana, 1995) 1994
[Vidya Ensemble] Stress\Relax (CD, Farol,1996) Fábrica de Sons? Stress Relax (Farol, 1993)
Graceful Brilliance (Strauss, 2002)
Sax Works (CD, 2003) (With Daniel Kientzy)
Collections
A Nightingale in Order Zero – In Memoriam Jorge Peixinho (New Music, 2000)
OTHERS
The music that Vítor Rua composed for plays at the Teatro Nacional de S. João was the basis for the show “Rua!Música para cena”, which inaugurated the renovated Teatro Carlos Alberto (TeCA), in Porto. The band was formed by Alexandre Soares, Manuel Guimarães, Jeff Cohen, Nuno Rebelo and Luís San Payo. Themes were heard from the plays “The Twelfth Night” and “Hamlet”, by Shakespeare, “Arranha-ceus”, by Jacinto Lucas Pires, “A Castro”, by António Ferreira” and “The Lessons”, by Ionesco .
COMMENTS
“The meeting between Vítor Rua, composer, and the excellent saxophonist Daniel Kientzy is surrounded by the memory of Jorge Peixinho, a mutual friend. With Kientzy, Peixinho opened a new world of writing for saxophone and electronics.”
ON THE TRAIL OF…
He is a member of Telectu. He wrote the book “A Música na era do porquinho Baby” and wrote several manifestos on rock, contemporary music, jazz, improvisation, in an ironic and pedagogical style. Several performers have recorded and performed his works at national and foreign concerts and festivals. For example: soprano Ana Ester Neves (e.g. “a vaca de steel” and “os galos de Madeira” on poems by Herberto Helder; “toccata 2”, poetry by M. Cesariny); poly-saxophonist Daniel Kientzy; trombonist Giancarlo Schiaffini (in the creation of “Babel Syndrome”); pianist John Tilbury (e.g. “gracefull brilliance”, “spin”, e.a.); the recorders Kathryn Bennets, Peter Bowman (e.g. “duplicator II” in the anthology “flights of fancy”, London, 2003″).
