Nuno Duarte

Living from my music

For Nuno Duarte (aged 27) from Monchique, the accordion has been an ever-present musical instrument since his childhood. Today he uses it to earn much of the livelihood for his family of four. Making music was always his dream. When ECO123 asked him about the WHY, he stressed that it filled his soul with joy, put him in a calm mood and at the end of the day was an important source of his own happiness. To the question about the future of his profession, he said: “I don’t know how my craft will develop, but I will keep the old traditions going.” What matters to him is the

Portuguese music of the Algarve. The stilts on which he appears one metre taller at his concerts are his own creation.

Reading music was never his thing. He is self-taught. At the age of eleven, he heard a song on the radio and practised it on his first accordion until he could play it. His music teacher Fátima Matias, who tried for a long time to teach him to read music, switched immediately and from then on played him songs on her accordion. Nuno Duarte then played them back to her and thereby perfected the details of his art. Nowadays, he doesn’t just play in restaurants or at dances in the evenings, he also plays at official parties and receptions of different events.

He calls his brand, linked to the traditional accordion, “Fole e Andas” (Bellows and Stilts) and makes it clear that he will continue to perform in the costume of his ancestors: black shoes, trousers, waistcoat, hat and belt, and a white shirt.