Américo Rodrigues

2000 release ** "We are not dealing with examples of crushed language; he does not need to start from language, he does not need to. In this sense, we can say that he amplifies some intuitions already had by Hugo Ball or Raoul Hausmann, at the beginning of the century: the potential is oral. And, in fact, Américo Rodrigues shows the muscles of the mouth, all the noises that the oral apparatus can make. It is the body itself that speaks its primitive language, in a pre-Babelian situation, where everything and nothing touch each other. In his case, the physical part of the voice is the body itself. His search is channeled towards the extremes of a Jaap Blonk or a Nobuo Kubota and towards what has already been done by a Paul Dutton or Valeri Scherstianoj. And, from this point of view, it is perfectly legitimate. It is worth noting that his work has a touch of aggressiveness that, in our opinion, is necessary to develop a strong impact on the listener-spectator. We are finally happy that from the land of Portugal, through a rare work of sound poetry, a similar poet has finally been born, who unfolds sound poetry in such a pure and original way, without electronic support (as was the case with Melo e Castro's video poetry) and without visual support (as in Fernando Aguiar's performances). In truth, Américo Rodrigues surrenders himself to the power of his voice, without tricks or deception, to enchant, dazzle and seduce the audience."