the team

Francisca Cortesão
and Afonso Cabral

Two musicians searching for a space — and who were lucky enough to find him — are part of the louva-a-deus team.

They share Mais Alto!, , sharing the stage and recording with Walter Benjamin, noiserv or Bruno Pernadas, a song called “Anda Estragar-me Os Planos“, and a degree that has in the meantime changed name in Communication and Culture from the University of Lisbon.

Both write songs in English and Portuguese.

louva-a-deus team: Afonso Cabral and Francisca Cortesão

running louva-a-deus

Francisca Cortesão

Francisca Cortesão

Porto, 1983.

Singer and main songwriter with Minta & The Brook Trout, whose first record was released in 2009, Francisca Cortesão is part of They’re Heading West. In 2017, along with percussionist António Serginho, she joined Mão Verde, Capicua and Pedro Geraldes children’s music project.

In 2019, at the behest of Lisbon’s LU.CA, she created a show with protest songs that are commented on and put in context on stage by Planeta Tangerina’s Isabel Minhós Martins.

On stage and in recordings, especially singing backing vocals and playing guitar, she has worked with artists like as Bruno Pernadas, David Fonseca, B Fachada, Márcia, Madalena Palmeirim and Lena d’Água.

She recently written for other artists, such as Cristina Branco, Pedro Moutinho and Ana Bacalhau.

She is also a translator (more on that here) and a founding member of louva-a-deus.

Minta and The Brook Trout are part of louva-a-deus’s roster.

Afonso Cabral

Lisbon, 1986.

A founding member of You Can’t Win, Charlie Brown (YCWCB), with whom he writes songs, sings and plays keyboards, guitars and, occasionally, bass.

As a solo artist, he has released Demorar, in 2024 – by louva-a-deus -, Moradain 2019 and Ao Vivo no CCBin 2020. He is part of Bruno Pernadas‘ band since 2014, Mais Alto! since 2020 and has more recently joined Minta & The Brook Trout.

He also writes songs for other artists, such as ‘Perto’, for fadista Cristina Branco. He has also sung in records by Noiserv, Moullinex, Minta & The Brook Trout, Paus and Rita Redshoes. In 2023 he made his debut producing music other than his own, with April Marmara’s album Still Life.

He’s also a founding member of louva-a-deus. Afonso Cabral is part of louva-a-deus artist roster.

Afonso Cabral

our booking agent

João Vaz Silva

João Vaz Silva

Lucky for louva-a-deus, João Vaz Silva, an outstanding agent, said yes to his friends and studio founders’ invitation to create a booking agency.

With a degree in journalism, besides working as an agent João is an event producer, curator, radio host, DJ and an extraordinary human being.

Louva-a-deus booking agency’s roster is being slowly and carefully curated, with many points of contact with the work of the recording studio and label that bear the same name.

the main recorder

Nelson Carvalho

With career like no other in Portugal, since the late 90’s, Nelson Carvalho has recorded, produced, mixed and mastered dozens of albums by artists and bands of all genres, such a Sérgio Godinho, Camané, Clã, Legendary Tigerman, Deolinda, Frankie Chavez, Samuel Úria, Salvador Sobral or Orelha Negra, besides doing live sound for music and other performative arts. He was the technical director of Valentim de Carvalho estúdios for over a decade.

As part of louva-a-deus’s team, Nelson has followed the construction and sound design since the very beginning. He is the technical director of the recording studio, which is fully furnished by his recording and monitoring equipment.

Nelson Carvalho

builders

MVCC Arquitectos

Founded in 1979 by Mercês Vieira and Camilo Cortesão, MVCC is an architecture and urban planning which has projects all over Portugal, such as the renovation of the downtown of Porto, 2001 European Capital of Culture, the gardens of the Guimarães castle or the renovation of Fernão de Magalhães Avenue, in Porto. They were charged with renovating the newly-finished Sete Rios square, in Lisbon, a short walk away from louva-a-deus.

CONTRARUÍDO

After consulting initially with Newell Acoustic Engineering, acoustic engineer Diogo Mateus worked with MVCC to design the rooms in louva-a-deus. A teacher at the Civil Engineering department of the University of Coimbra and a member of Contraruído, an acoustic trials and vibrations lab, through which he worked in the construction of Cineteatro da Lousã, of the building of the NOVA School of Business and Economics, in Carcavelos, and the Cine Teatro Garrett, in Póvoa de Varzim.

BRUCAVI

An engineer with decades of experience in much bigger projects, all over the word, Jorge Vieira has recently mostly worked in Lisbon, in smaller projects. Lucky louva-a-deus.