We’ve been looking at music films lately, so it’s time to catch up with the multicultural, multi-instrumental collective Lusitanian Ghosts. That’s because they released a ‘making of’ video with their debut album, and a hypnotic performance video for its follow-up.
We may be more familiar with the Lusitania as a doomed ship, but the word originally comes from the name of the ancient Roman Iberian province which spanned modern-day Portugal. That is why the Portuguese-Canadian-Swedish collective chose to use traditional Portuguese instruments to bring their indie songwriting to life.
Lusitanian Ghosts demonstrate just how powerful almost-extinct Portuguese instruments such as beiroa, campaniça, braguesa, terceirense and amarantina can be.
Previously, the band combined heritage chordophones with a modern set-up of a guitar, a bass and drums for their debut album, as discussed in this ‘making of’ film.
Micke Ghost mused “chordophone rock n roll, Alt-Folk, Urban-Country-Folk; however it gets labelled, what should come across are the humanist messages in these songs.” Lusitanian Ghosts recorded their second album on analogue tape at Cloud Hill Studios in Hamburg, and Sebastian Muxfeldt (Elbow, Peter Doherty, Teenage Fanclub) mixed the record. The resultant album, Exotic Quixotic, is out now on European Phonographic.