Quarteto 1111

It is quite impossible to speak of rock music in Portugal without mentioning Quarteto 1111. The same applies for Portuguese Prog. Quarteto 1111, under the leadership of José Cid, were perfectly aware of foreign music trends, especially those of the U.K.. While their main musical influence was The Beatles, they did not emulate the Fab 4’s sound and rather created a new one by merging pop and psychedelic sonorities with traditional Portuguese music. After a few changes in line-up, they would go on to produce Cid’s “Onde Quando Como Porquê Cantamos Pessoas Vivas”, their final LP, which was an astonishing piece of Progressive Rock for Portuguese standards, only overshadowed by the later José Cid solo effort “10.000 Depois entre Vénus e Marte”. 

Country: PORTUGAL

Prog genre: PROTO-PROG/PSYCHEDELIC/SYMPHONIC/ECLECTIC/CROSSOVER

Official Website: NO OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Artist/band biography:

The original formation, made up by Miguel Artur da Silveira (drums), José Cid (vocals and keyboards) and brothers António Moniz Pereira (guitar) and Jorge Moniz Pereira (bass guitar), began work as a garage-band. In 1967 they get radio airplay with the theme “A Lenda d’El Rei D. Sebastião”. Shortly after they launched their first EP.

The time spent between their first EP and their first LP was spent producing other EP’s and singles, as well as taking part in a national Song Contest.

1970 sees the launch of the band’s homonymous debut album, a psychedelic-pop conceptual piece dealing with racism and emigration. The dictatorship’s censoring machine has the album withdrawn the very same week of its launch. After this event, the band lauched further singles, this time sung in English as to better evade censorship. After a great commercial success with the singles “Back to the Country” and “Ode to The Beatles”, they are asked to appear on the first edition of the now famous Vilar de Mouros music festival, along with popular names from the Portuguese traditional music scene, such as Amália Rodrigues, but from the international scene as well, such as Elton John and Manfred Mann. It was in this encounter with Manfred Mann that Cid first got to know the Moog.

After a few changes in line-up, the band, still under the eye of the censorship, records it’s second LP with a popular Portuguese singer, Frei Hermano da Câmara. Cid decides to leave the group after the album, but reunites with the band after the revolution that reinstated democracy in Portugal and marked the end of the censors. With the new line-up of José Cid (vocals and keyboards), Guilherme Inês (drums), António Moniz Pereira (guitar), Mike Sergeant (guitar) and Tó Zé Brito (bass guitar), they record Quarteto 1111’s magnus opus, the two-piece symphonic album “Onde Quando Como Porquê Cantamos Pessoas Vivas”. This was to become the last LP by the band, as Cid abandoned the group to pursue a very successful solo career that began with an adventurous but ill-received incursion further into Progressive Rock.

In mid eighties the original band got together for a few performances and managed to put out one final single in 1987, “Memo”.

Discography:

QUARTETO 1111 (1970)

I'm pleased to inform that the new label "Do Tempo Do Vinil" (linked with EMI-Valentim de Carvalho) has announced the CD release of "Onde Quando Como Porquê Cantamos Pessoas Vivas" for the 25th of this month. They have already released a reedition of Tantra's "Mistérios e Maravilhas", and have several other portuguese prog albums scheduled for release (Petrus Castrus' Ascensão e Queda should come out also on the 25th February; more albums from Tantra and Banda do Casaco should be released on a thrid phase, not yet scheduled).