Formed in 1994, The Gift was initially a side project of the Dead Souls, Nuno Gonçalves, El Guam and Miguel Ribeiro’s band at the time. The evolution from one project to another was natural, as they felt the Dead Souls sound was limited by their instrumentation (guitar, drums and bass) and wanted to experiment with new sounds and explore new musical paths.
In September, 1994, Sónia Tavares, Nuno and John Gonçalves, Miguel Ribeiro, and Ricardo Braga enrolled in the Bar Ben Music Competition in Alcobaça, and took second place in the competition, to everyone's great surprise, given the band’s short time in existence.
The band performed its first show at the Alcobaça Monastery in July, 1995. This was followed by the Belém Cultural Centre (Lisbon) in September, 1996, and the Labirintho Bar (Porto) in November, 1996.
The Gift masterminded their first record, with the intention of using it as a demo for the media and labels. From this effort, “Digital Atmosphere” was born, a six track enhanced CD featuring interviews and videos, recorded at home but not available in stores. In 1997 the band went on the road, playing at over 30 theatres (many of which sold out) and released a video at the end of the tour at the Belém Cultural Centre and Alcobaça Cine-Teatro shows.
Soon after the Digital Atmosphere Tour finished, Ricardo Braga left the band, and The Gift was now a four-member group once again. In 1998, they established themselves as an independent band forming their own label, La Folie, with the visionary goal of releasing their next record as independents.
Sónia Tavares, The Gift - photo by João Loureiro
In November 1998, the band's first true record Vinyl was released. Vinyl combined the potentials of new technologies (samples and synthesizer) with classical instruments (violins, cellos, trumpets, saxophones, etc.). Vinyl, which was fully funded by The Gift themselves, was named Album of the Year by the Diário de Notícias newspaper, a first for a Portuguese independent band, and began courting the attention of the labels that previously ignored The Gift's work. In spite of this, the band chose to stay independent, opting to use distribution contracts.
From November 1998 through 1999, the band performed over 80 shows, including the biggest Summer Festivals, selling out the most important venues in Lisbon and Porto, won several awards with the first hit single, “Ok! Do You Want Something Simple?” and sold over 35,000 records.
At the end of that year The Gift performed for the first time abroad in Paris (at La Cigalle), and a few months later participated in the prestigious music fair MIDEM 2000 (in Cannes), taking the first step towards the band's career outside Portugal.
In early 2000, the band closed the Vinyl era, simultaneously releasing the photo book A Single Diary (by Ana Pereira), and the video “Single Hand Camera Documentary” (by Gonçalo Covacich), two artistic visions and documentary pieces on the Vinyl Tour. Once again, all the costs incurred were covered by the band, establishing The Gift once and for all as a solid DIY band.
The steps taken abroad continued to gain momentum in June 2000 with the band's first mini-tour outside Portugal, including dates in Germany (Expo 2000 – Hanover), Macau, and again, France (Paris).
At the end of the year The Gift took a break from touring and started writing songs for the next album, some of which were introduced later in 2001 at the Eurosonic Festival in the Netherlands, representing Portugal.
Howie B produced Film, The Gift's second album, was released, again through their own label, La Folie Records. The band showed its “Film” throughout the country, playing at the Paredes de Coura Festival, the optimushype@meco Festival (sharing the stage with Howie B and Matthew Herbert), at the Interactive TV's launch in Portugal, live for Sic Radical channel, and radio Antena 3.
Film went Gold at 25,000 units, and The Gift won several more awards for its videos (“Waterskin” and “Question of Love” – the album's first two singles). At the end of 2001, the band was once more invited by Cap Magellan to promote Film in Paris.
In March 2002, The Gift flew to the United States to enter the South by Southwest Music & Media Conference in Austin, Texas; in June they returned to Paris to perform at the Hôtel de Ville Square; in August Popkomm and Musikfest am Ring festivals in Germany; Spain followed in September with shows in Barcelona; in October the band was back in the US for a short tour in a few North-American cities (New York City); and in November its first concert in Madrid, Spain, took place.
Of the few performances in Portugal, the Manchester Mad Remixers (which featured The Gift together with Rodrigo Leão and Pedro Oliveira) concerts were a highlight (first at the nightclub Lux, and later at the Frágil and the Clinic bars). This was a project especially created for the 24 Hour Party People film's premiere.
The Gift was invited to open for The Flaming Lips and Cousteau, and at the end of the year, in December 2003, got an invitation to perform for the recently launched Portuguese MTV, recording one of the first MTV Live shows in the history of MTV Portugal.
In 2004, The Gift celebrated its first 10 years in music. By the end of the recording sessions, The Gift was faced with a double album, where two distinctive but complementary environments surfaced (one more intimate and introspective, the other more euphoric) and in which duality was the key word. The new release, the first in three years, is entitled AM-FM. AM-FM went Gold, selling more than 25,000 copies.
In 2005 they won the MTV Europe Award for Best Portuguese Act.
The song "11:33" from AM-FM is featured on the soundtrack of the football video game FIFA 06.
The album Fácil de Entender, their first live album, was released in 2006. It sold over 25,000 units.
The Gift performed with great success on the Expo 2008Zaragoza, the day of Portugal, at the exhibition.
In 2008 and 2009, The Gift's Sónia Tavares and Nuno Gonçalves, along with fellow musicians, Paulo Praça [Plaza] and Fernando Ribeiro, recorded and toured with their side project Hoje. Amalia Hoje sold more than 85,000 units.
They invited Ken Nelson [Coldplay, Gomez, Kings of Convenience, Badly Drawn Boy] to produce their 5th Album.
2011 was the year of Explode. Explode was released in Portugal on 1 April and immediately went to number one in the charts. In September 2016, the group released a new single featuring legendary British musician Brian Eno, titled Love Without Violins. Eno co-wrote and produced, as well as sang on the track. The single was released under the band's own record label, La Folie Records, on 30 September. A new album was also announced to be released in 2017, featuring the Grammy-nominated composer on several tracks, which he composed with the band's keyboardist Nuno Gonçalves, and mixed by legendary producer Flood. The Portuguese band will be sharing vocal duties and instruments with Eno, who also wrote the lyrics with singer Sónia Tavares.[1] Following the release of the new single, The Gift were confirmed to play for the second time at Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen, NL.[2]
In September 2016, the group released a new single featuring legendary British musician Brian Eno, titled Love Without Violins. Eno co-wrote and produced, as well as sang on the track. The single was released under the band's own record label, La Folie Records, on 30 September. A new album was also announced to be released in 2017, featuring the Grammy-nominated composer on several tracks, which he composed with the band's keyboardist Nuno Gonçalves, and mixed by legendary producer Flood. The Portuguese band will be sharing vocal duties and instruments with Eno, who also wrote the lyrics with singer Sónia Tavares.[3] Following the release of the new single, The Gift were confirmed to play for the second time at Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen, NL.[4]
Digital balls (1997) – demo tape without commercial release
Vinyl (1998)
Film (2001)
AM-FM (2004)
Fácil de Entender (2006)
Explode (2011)
Primavera (2012)
Altar (2017)
Verão (2019)
Coral (2022)
Singles
From Vinyl
"Ok! Do You Want Something Simple?" (1999)
"Real (Get Me For...)" (1999)
"Truth" (2000)
From Film
"Water Skin" (2001)
"Question of Love" (2001)
From AM-FM
"Driving You Slow" (2004)
"11:33" (2005)
"Music" (2005)
From Fácil de Entender
"Fácil de Entender" (2006)
From Explode
"RGB" (2011)
Related Research Articles
LPG is a Dutch indie-pop band, signed on Excelsior Recordings/V2 Records. In April 2005, their critically acclaimed debut album I fear no foe was released in the Netherlands, receiving positive reviews from established magazines and websites, such as Oor, VPRO 3voor12 and Volkskrant. There were few negative reviews, which mostly struggled with the applause in the opening track Speech, and the diversity of the band.
Caesar was a Dutch indie rock trio from Amsterdam, consisting of Roald van Oosten, Marit de Loos and Sem Bakker. The band was founded in 1994. Caesar released four studio albums, plus one retrospective release in 2006, Before My Band Explodes. The band was dissolved in 2008.
The Music Moves Europe Award, also known as the MME Award, is an annual prize recognizing the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year. The prize was known as the European Border Breakers Award (EBBA) until 2019, and the Music Moves Europe Talent Award (MMETA) until 2022.
Folie à Deux is the fourth studio album by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released on December 10, 2008, by Island Records. As with their previous two albums From Under the Cork Tree (2005) and Infinity on High (2007), its music was composed by lead vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump, with lyrics penned by bassist Pete Wentz. Regarding the writing process, the band considered Folie à Deux to be their most collaborative record.
Fernando Ribeiro is a Portuguese singer, vocalist and lyricist for the Portuguese gothic metal band Moonspell. In addition to this activity, he is also a writer and translator.
EZ Basic is a guitar-pop, indie-rock project based in Budapest, Hungary formed in 2004. It started out as an experimental bedroom project in the early 00s and is noted for being one of the most eclectic bands of the Budapest indie music scene.
:PAPERCUTZ is a Portuguese electronic music act formed as a side project in Porto that became a fully active band in 2008. Bruno Miguel is the only official member of Papercutz and solely responsible for its musical direction. After recordings, Bruno assembles a live band to perform with him which may include musicians used on studio recordings. Past musicians have included vocalists Melissa Veras, a US singer with Portuguese ascendancy born in New York and Portuguese Marisa Pinto, Marcela Freitas as well as instrumentalists Bruno Ribeiro, Nuno Sarafa and Francisco Bernardo, among others.
Sean Riley & The Slowriders is a Portuguese band from Coimbra with a sound close to music of Americana roots such as folk, rock and blues. The band represented Portugal at the 2010 Eurosonic Festival.
ESNS is an annual four-day music showcase festival and conference held in January in Groningen, the Netherlands. The first three days of the festival (Eurosonic) feature artists from all over Europe, the last day of the festival (Noorderslag) features only Dutch artists. The conference is held during all four days of the event. Several awards are presented during Eurosonic Noorderslag: the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards, the European Festivals Awards, the Buma Cultuur Pop Award (Popprijs), the Pop Media Award, The Feather, the "Iron Venue and Festival Animals" and the Buma Music Meets Tech Award.
New Build is a British electronic music band based in London. The band consists of Hot Chip members Al Doyle, Felix Martin plus composer Tom Hopkins. Their first album Yesterday Was Lived and Lost was released in the UK on 5 March 2012.
Gisela João Gomes Remelho is a Portuguese fado singer.
Lotta Lindgren, known by her stage name Léon, is a Swedish singer and songwriter from Stockholm, Sweden. Her first single, "Tired of Talking", was released on SoundCloud in July 2015. She has released three full-length albums: LÉON, Apart, and Circles. She also collaborated with Jonas Blue on the house single "Hear Me Say".
Alma-Sofia Miettinen, known professionally as Alma, is a Finnish singer and songwriter. Beginning her career in 2013, she placed fifth in the seventh season of the Finnish version of Idol. Her breakthrough came in 2015 when she was featured on the single "Muuta ku mä" by Sini Sabotage, and was subsequently signed to Universal Music Group.
Norton is an indie rock band formed in Castelo Branco, Portugal. They have released five albums to date and toured all over Europe and Japan.
Frankie Animal is an Estonian indie rock band formed in 2012.
The double album Truck is the fourth album by the Dutch singer and multi-instrumentalist Jett Rebel. It was released on January 22, 2016 and is the first of three albums that Jett Rebel has released within the year. The second album: Don't Die On Me Now was specially released as a surprise act at Lowlands on August 20, 2016; the official release was on August 26. The third album: Super Pop at Eurosonic Noorderslag January 13, 2017. The three albums are separate, but are connected like a triptych, the Experimentalist, the Musician and the Composer.
Super Pop is the sixth studio album by Dutch singer and multi-instrumentalist Jett Rebel and the final piece of the last triptych that Rebel released within 12 months. The launch of Super Pop was on January 13, 2017 during Eurosonic Noorderslag. Rebel gave a special midnight performance in the record store Plato of Groningen. Fans could buy the first Super Pop album in a limited edition of pink pressed vinyl.
Monika Engeseth, also known as Moyka, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter from Hallingdal, Norway. She has called herself a "Norwegian Pop Witch".
Rev Rev Rev is an Italian shoegaze and psychedelic band formed in Modena in 2011 by Sebastian Lugli and Laura Iacuzio, then joined by Andrea Dall'Omo and Greta Benatti.
Nuno Miguel Cândido Gonçalves, better known as Nuno Gonçalves, is a Portuguese musician, composer and pianist-keyboardist, founder and band member of the Portuguese band The Gift. Some of the band's biggest hits were created by him, including Music, Driving You Slow, Fácil de Entender, Primavera and Clássico.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
