CICLORAMA

A Presenca Das Formigas is a Portugese ensemble from Viseu, found around brothers Andre Cardoso (guitar) and Miguel Cardoso (vocals, bass) along with Manuel Maio (violin, mandolin, vocals) and Luis Arrigo (drums).The band was awarded the Zeca Afonso Award at Festival Cantar Abril in 2009 and two years later it exhibited an expanded line-up with Cecilia Pessanha on flutes, Teresa Campos on vocals, Filipa Meneses on acoustic and electric piano along with several guests on acoustic and wind instruments.This version of the band recorded the ''Ciclorama'' album, released independently in 2011.

The basic elements of the ensemble are the clean and ethereal female vocals, the soft acoustic interplays, the folky arrangements based on traditional instruments and the overall melodious feeling towards accesible and mellow musicianship.I cannot detect much of the rumored progressive leanings of the band, apart from some interesting bass lines, vocal harmonies and calm instrumentals with a bit of richer sound.To my ears ''Ciclorama'' sounds more like a melodic Folk/Folk Rock album with a poetic atmosphere, a bit like compatriots BANDA DO CASACO or PETRUS CASTRUS' first album, displaying a physical tendency towards a nice lyricism and some slightly intricate arrangements.Another issue comes from the album's dynamics, propably the absence of electric textures or more adventurous instrumental parts are the reason for this.Otherwise this work has some doses of decent musicianship to offer to anyone in love with ethnic sounds, lots of percussion, violin, mandolin, accordion and flute in a rural and nostalgic atmosphere.There are also fair amounts of piano included, but even so the overall style is closer to the Singer/Songwriting stylings.When Miguel Cardoso becomes more active the music suddenly becomes more emphatic, unfortunately these parts are too few for this effort to be appreciated by a wider basis of Prog fans.

Portuguese Folk combined with pleasant and romantic Art Pop/Rock arrangements.Not a priority, very relaxing stuff, propably heading for the strict lines of Folk/Folk Rock fans.