O GAJO  is born in Lisbon in the spring of 2016 by João Morais with the intention of connecting his music to the land that saw him born, Portugal.

This is how the relationship with "Viola Campaniça" arises, a traditional root instrument that is part of the Portuguese centenary and cultural history. Also known as Viola Alentejana, the Viola Campaniça was the musical instrument used to accompany the famous songs to the estranged, or "cantes a despique", at the feasts and fairs of the Alentejo. It is the largest of the Portuguese violas and has 5 orders of strings traditionally played by fingering only with the thumb.

 

João Morais has been a musician since 1988 and after almost 30 years playing guitars from outside, it is in a concert in Beja that he knows the Viola Campaniça. The one that brings to Lisbon. It gains new shades away from the more traditional language but keeps its Portugueseness intact.

 

O GAJO compositions may sound fado, but they are not fado, they may sound traditional music, but they are not traditional music, they are a hybrid of all that and much more. DUDE plays music from the world and to the world!