Artist Management
From London with Love
Love is an odd place. Mariana Duarte Silva, 31 years old, musical promoter and agent for Portuguese talent in London, finds it somewhere between the light of Lisbon and the cultural underground of London’s Shoreditch district.
Constantly on the lookout, wanting more and better than Portugal could offer, she filled her CV with marketing and communication work and set off for London to grab opportunities there, as only those who are driven by passion can. The project took off. She styled herself Madame, the day she heard Rosa Passos singing «Pra quê discutir com Madame», (“Why argue with Madame”) a samba by Haroldo Barbosa and Janet de Almeida. This became the fairy godmother’s calling card for a new generation of Portuguese artists.
Professionally she started work at C Squared Communications in London, where she gained the skills to help bring to fruition a few personal projects. She was invited to be part of the programming of the concerts for the very reputable Atlantic Waves Festival that she had so admired while still in Portugal.
Mariana is also a freelance consultant at citizensound where she is in charge of sonic branding and musical marketing for various bands and brands. In parallel to all this, she is also organising events in both London and Lisbon, including events at locations like Plastic People, Bar Music Hall, Notting Hill Arts Club, Sketch or Cargo.
She wallows in the beats of trendy London warehouses. Rui da Silva, Stereo Addiction or the female DJ duo Heartbreakerz show that it’s possible. Tireless in her support when she believes in someone’s good vibe, she bends over backwards to make contacts, set up meetings, gets a metre and half of attention on the best stages of the London night. She’s an insider in this world, and she knows she won’t disappoint. She’s a real Lady when promoting her artists who are avid for more visibility beneath the psychedelic lights of London’s clubland.
She’s never happy unless she’s investing time in those she believes in. She knows very well that if a song is heard once by the right ears, whether in London or Lisbon, it’s going to make a difference
She speaks about all the ideas into which she pours her heart and soul. She does this between Lisbon and London, dividing her time between a place which she feels enormous emotional attachment to, and the passion she feels for her urban arts centre office in the Village Underground, an old tube carriage on top of a building, where she works. Between going to Lux when in Lisbon, the place which she believes promotes the best DJs, and her meetings with Portuguese friends when in London, she set up together with Joana Seguro, “O Baile” a showcase for the best in portuguese and international talent.
She feels at home in Lisbon where she returns to, “officially” to get married, transforming cold, expensive London into a place she misses deeply; “where every day is different. I miss the unexpected shows, spontaneous parties in basements, warehouses, car parks, the people on the street in Shoreditch, the street art, the buses, walking on the street with headphones, of wanting to hear an artist play live and - on the same day – being able to do so, and the musical talent which seems to fall from the trees, every day.” She dreams of the future; “in 2010 I want the Baile to reaffirm its position as the best showcase for new talent, simultaneously in London and Lisbon, to develop Portuguese brands with citizensound and find the ideal space to install Village Underground in Portugal.
She is a more mature, less mad [as in hyperactive and frantic] Madame, more “ame”*, with the love she has for her sonic branding.
* “ame” means love in Portuguese. So there is a play on words with “mad” and “love”
Adapted from an article by Sofia de Santiago for Parq magazine (Nov 09)
