I
Jorge Palma

About:

4 June 1950, Lisbon

Born as Jorge Manuel d’Abreu Palma he learned to play the piano at a very young age. Turning 8 years old he already performed his first piano audition in the Portuguese National Conservatory. In 1963, aged 13, Palma finished second in a musical contest in Majorca, Spain. The next year, 1964, marked a turning point in Palma's musical style, after leaving his classical influences he started to play rock'n'roll and taught himself to play guitar. In 1969, he joined the Hard rock band Sindikato while continuing his studies in the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lisbon. With Sindikato he recorded an album of covers from English material. In order to avoid conscription and the Portuguese Colonial War in Portugal's overseas territories in Africa, Jorge Palma dropped out of university and went to Denmark with his first wife, Gisela Brande, where he lived from 1973 to 1974 as a political refugee.

Jorge Palma's solo career eventually started with the release of the single The Nine Billion Names of God, based on the short story of the same name by Arthur C. Clarke. After that he spent some time improving his writing skills in Portuguese language with poet José Carlos Ary dos Santos. On his first album Com Uma Viagem na Palma da Mão he combined this with progressive rock. In the years to follow Palma’s popularity grew slowly taking him to Spain, Brazil and France.

In the early 1980s, he travelled to Paris, only returning in 1982 in order to finish the record of his 4th album, Acto Contínuo, album that was first meant to be a live album, but due to some difficulties, was recorded in studio. In 1983, when Palma was about to restart his musical studies, which he would finish in 1986, his first son, Vicente Palma, was born. In 1985, Palma released one of the most acclaimed albums of his career, named O Lado Errado da Noite, the album included the hitsingle Deixa-me Rir. After releasing his 1989 album he finally continued his piano studies, finishing the Superior Course of Piano in the Portuguese National Conservatory in the next year. This made Palma revisit some of his old songs which are compiled on the album Só, featuring only vocals and piano.

After the release of this album, Palma formed the Palma's Gang, with members of the bands Xutos & Pontapés and Rádio Macau. In that same year, Palma participated in an album of the punk band Censurados. Mid nineties his second son, Francisco Palma, was born. In 1996, Palma accepted an invitation to join a new project, named Rio Grande, a band that included other famous Portuguese musicians, Tim (Xutos & Pontapés), João Gil (Ala dos Namorados), Rui Veloso and Vitorino. In 1998, Palma played several major concerts, for university students in Lisbon and Porto, and also in the World's Fair Expo '98 in Lisbon. The first years of the new century consisted mainly of constant touring for Palma. After the release of his 2007 album he married his girlfriend Rita Tormé. In 2010 he sang the title song Tudo por um beijo for the movie A Bela e o Paparazzo.

On the web:

- Jorge's website: http://www.jorgepalma.pt/

If you like this, you probably like.. / european counterparts:

- Ivano Fossati (Italy)

What do we think:

DB: Palma was one of the big revelations when we travelled Portugal. This is typically an artist that is famous locally but completely unknown outside his own country. Unjustly we might add. Palma has a great talent for writing good songs and also has a very good voice. It has that sweet/bitter ring to it and has that typically Portugues talent to sing soft rather then rock 'n roll. Still Jorge can make soft singing sound very loud. Also nice to hear Europopmusic where for a change the piano plays the leading role. No suprise that we linked him to Italian composer and singer Ivano Fossati. When exploring Palma you have to mind that his seventies output is more progrock and his eighties albums are more pop. Start listening which ever genre is to your liking.

Recommendations:

♪♪♪ - Com Uma Viagem Na Palma da Mão - 1975

 - 'Té Já - 1977

 - Qualquer Coisa Pá Música - 1979

 - Acto Contínuo - 1982

 ♪♪♪ - Asas e Penas - 1984

 - Lado Errado da Noite - 1985

 ♪♪♪ - Quarto Minguante - 1986

 ♪♪♪♪♪ - Bairro do Amor - 1989

♪♪♪♪ – Só - 1991

 ♪♪♪ - Jorge Palma - 2001

 ♪♪♪ - Norte - 2004

 ♪♪♪♪ - Voo Nocturno - 2007

 ♪♪♪ - Com Todo o Respeito - 2011

 - Juntos - Ao vivo no Theatro Circo (with Sérgio Godinho) - 2015