This Is My City | Iconic rocker Rui Reininho headlines festival’s 10th anniversary concert

Two children watch Turtle Giant perform

Macau-based creative festival This Is My City kicked off last Friday night with a series of live musical performances at Largo do Pagode do Bazar.

This Is My City 2016 celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, a milestone that organizers say offers the chance for a “thoughtful review of how far this festival and its city have come in the last ten years.”

Friday night’s gig featured the 61-year-old iconic singer-songwriter of Portuguese rock band GNR, with indie-rock band Turtle Giant as their supporting act. Turtle Giant is a trio of Portuguese-speaking musicians from Sao Paulo, Brazil with connections to Macau.

Presenting their latest album “Many Mansions I”, Turtle Giant warmed up the outdoor venue for the evening’s headline act, beckoning festival-goers to come closer. The band’s indie-rock style draws prominent influences from American folk, psychedelic rock and the 1960s rock scene in general.

Turtle Giant has traversed continents performing tracks from their albums and recording many more, having spent significant time in studios in Brazil and Barcelona. In 2012 they recorded their sophomore EP “All Hidden Places”, taking advantage of the acoustics of Macau’s historic Dom Pedro V Theater, a building they returned to when recording “Many Mansions I”.

What got the crowd really going, however, was the appearance of Portuguese legendary artist, Rui Reininho. He briefly appeared after Turtle Giant’s set to tease the audience with “an ancient Portuguese poetry reading” before retreating, only to emerge again later in the night to join electronic synthesizer Armando Teixeira on stage.

Described by festival organizers as “a beloved, and often controversial, icon of the Portuguese rock scene [whose songs use] language often enriched by the slang of his native Porto,” Reininho told the Times on Friday night that his collaboration with Teixeira featured four electronic covers of some of his more popular tracks.

His eccentric style came through in his dialogue with the Times, only minutes before he was due to return to the stage.

Reininho, recalling his earlier visits to Macau, said: “I was last here [in Macau] 26 years ago with my band. It has changed so much. It’s not a Portuguese colony anymore, but people are more friendly today [than they were before]… they actually look you in the eyes.”

“There are no colonial relationships [today],” he said, further remarking on the changes he has observed since his previous visit.

“But there is a still a colonial touch [to the city]. The old men in shops still remember some of the Portuguese words [they learned]. Part of the history is captured and kept in this city.”

“Today I call [this city] ‘Miami Vice’ because it looks like Miami. It’s very modern and the girls here are the most beautiful in the world… it must be the Portuguese genes,” he joked.

He also said that last week he had a chance meeting with a former girlfriend from his teenage years.

“I bumped into an old girlfriend just around the corner [from here] that I used to have when I was 16,” he explained. “She was a psycho,” he added, laughing. However, he said the encounter was pleasant.

Asked for his opinion on the dramatic rise of casinos since his last visit, Reininho appeared disinterested. “I am not a gambler,” he started, before correcting himself. “Well, I am… rock and roll is a game. Every time that I get on stage is a gamble.”