Listening tip August 2026: “Erosão Percussion Trio”

By Maria Portugal 

with Burkhard Beins and Emilio Gordoa

This CD is here to make your summer better. It arrives in the form of a recording by three magnificent percussionists. Their sound is warm, soft, and yet fresh. It pumps and pulses like the heartbeat of the earth’s interior, and then, before you know it, here comes the one I've been waiting for: Hello, happiness!

Two minutes later, I click “Purchase” on Bandcamp. That’s my record.

I let out a little sigh, and while the percussion tingles on my eardrums and deeper beats awaken the center of my body, I listen with growing longing to Mariá Portugal’s beautiful voice. My heart is pulled far away, toward Brazil. She has a wonderful way of connecting the song culture of her homeland with the vibe of Berlin, which Beins and Gordoa spin with dizzying ease on their cymbals and percussion.

I’m almost tempted to put on a red dress just to listen to it.

And a word comes to mind that I don’t think I’ve ever used for improvised music before. At least I don’t think so. Let me type it out:

SEXY.

I think it looks good there. I’ve always wanted to use it for improvised music.

Okay, I have to be honest now. I have a habit of listening first and reading the liner notes later. When I finally take a look, I find talk of composed structures and improvisation, of drums, metal objects, field recordings, live electronics, and all sorts of unusual sound sources.

Okay, so that’s what’s going on.

But it also says:

“The trio’s performances are deeply rooted in improvisation and draw on a wide variety of percussion instruments—from traditional drum sets to unconventional sound sources. The sound is further enriched by the percussive use of electric bass and live electronics. The result is a distinctive musical personality in which Brazilian popular music meets Berlin’s Echtzeitmusik tradition.”

Be that as it may, I think it works brilliantly.

The three of them bring my little place to life, and they do so with style. I enjoy drifting back and forth between the simple yet deeply felt song worlds of Brazil and the free-spirited, adventurous Berlin of improvisation.

And it occurs to me that the vitality of folk traditions may not lie in their structure at all, but in their inner pulse. In that force that first moved people to sing and dance in order to express themselves.

A little later, my ear gets caught by a completely different piece. A somewhat creaky, dragging rhythm. This time without a voice. The piece is called “Rolltreppe” (“Escalator”).

Well, escalators in Berlin don’t sound like that. Not that I know of. Maybe they did once. These days Berlin is so polished and gentrified. This must be an escalator in Bahia.

Or perhaps exactly not.

Because Berlin is home to those rare ears that concern themselves, almost in passing, with the subtle inner life of escalators. Those faithful escalators are part of it too, after all. They help things along, even if their rhythm has something to do with the hamster wheel of our daily efforts. But when that rhythm is drummed onto a slightly higher plane, it becomes funny and liberating.

Ah yes, how one would love to rise above exactly these things. Thank goodness for art. I find myself a little reconciled with the mechanics of everyday life.

It’s a shame I don’t understand what Mariá is singing about. She should never stop. And me? Well... suddenly I want to write love letters. To write poetry and cultivate idleness.

But duty stands before me. I finish writing this, make my corrections, and then I’m supposed to move on to the next item on the to-do list.

Still: where is that red dress? Or at least the lipstick. And I’d quite like a slice of lime in my glass of water.

And then I listen to the whole thing once again.

https://mariaportugal.bandcamp.com/album/erosa-o-percussion-trio