Established as a label in 2004 in Porto, Portugal, Soopa is oriented around the axis of Jonathan Saldanha (a.k.a. HHY) and Filipe Silva (a.k.a. The Banshee), with a massive of collaborators. Our work spans across style and geography, combining releases from local artists with albums by musicians from all over the world. The common denominator to the label's releases is an endless search for a transformation of reality, placing music at the center of transfixing phenomena, in various complementary contexts such as traditional and contemporary ritualism, subconscious cut-up/free-association, psychedelic mental states (minus the chemicals), or dub as a form of sound mapping; this approach is often made visible in the somewhat hallucinatory artwork for the label's releases and events. In the 4 years since its inception, Soopa has released 11 titles by local artists such as hhy and Herzbeat Hotel, by transnational collaborative units like Mécanosphère and United Scum Soundclash, or by fellow travellers Spiral Joy Band (USA) and Mathieu Werchowski/David Chiesa (France). Upcoming in the next months are releases by Porto's omnipresent grindcore drummer/electroacoustic composer Gustavo Costa, in his Most People Have Been Trained To Be Bored guise (Soopa's first vinyl release) and by the brutal improv dynamic duo of John Hegre (Jazzkammer) and Marcelo Aguirre (Abominations, Pregnant Testicle).
Soopa's releases are available for purchase from our main website, or by contacting soopa@soopa.org.
And Soopa is also a...
Musicians' collective:
Before its establishment as a label, Soopa had already existed for some years as a concept bringing together likeminded musicians from the Porto area who, regardless of their aesthetic areas, shared an ideology of exploratory, DIY music-making. Very quickly, this led to the foundation of a web of music projects, often sharing personnel, ranging from the (un)holy music of Herzbeat Hotel to the burlesque psychedelia of F.R.I.C.S., the dub séances of Mécanosphère and the one-man beat attacks of hhy. This network, organised in the style of a semi-visible secret society, has expanded into becoming part of a worldwide community that includes collaborators like Raz Mesinai (USA), Ripit (France/Belgium), Sikhara (USA), Ove-Naxx (Japan), Arrington de Dionyso (USA), DJ Scotch Egg (Japan/UK), Alejandro González Novoa (Argentina) and Eugene Chadbourne (USA). This collaborative spirit is one of Soopa's cornerstones, and it is also pursued through our ongoing activity as event organisers (around 100 concerts in 5 years), featuring musicians from all over the map.
Learn more about Soopa's music projects on our main website. Join the Soopa events mailing list by contacting us at soopa@soopa.org.
Below are assorted pictures of the Soopa crew, friends, events, posters and artwork.
<<HHY & Drums of Habnom>>*USAtour2009*'s Friend Space (Top 32)
<<HHY & Drums of Habnom>>*USAtour2009* has 774 friends.
FUJAKO came out of the clash of Jonathan Uliel Saldanha and Nyko Esterle, two producers obsessed with echo and bass. The first one, raised in Portugal and part of the collectives Soopa and Mécanosphère, deals with sonic alchemy, and is also known as HHY. The second one, raised in France, part of the Radon collective and a rider of the sound waves, is also known as Ripit. Both met to summon music of unlooped hip-hop, filled with spectres of haunting dub and ecstatic scapes.
LANDFORM, their first record (out on Wordsound Digital) was born in a small stone house studio in the burnt forests and mountains of Portugal, between paradise and the gate of hell, made from soundscapes and beats recorded on mostly acoustic instruments, created in an hostile -yet natural- environment. After the initial production phase in the woods, LANDFORM was then haunted by the voices of several guests such as Sensational, Seraphim, Native, Cheravif and Scalper, as well as by the additional trash turntablism of DJ Urine.
Hello. Represent a new album ARX KAELI - Highway. 2009. Cd packed in wooden box with laser engraving, covered a grey varnish. Time 62 min. Best Regards.
DIATRIBES+JOAO PEDRO VIEGA+PAULO CURADO Travessia dos Respigadores freejazz/electroacoustic improv album on TEST TUBE netlabel music under CC by-nc-nd, copy & share it, thanks
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