Music & Folklore

The locals are passionate about music, perhaps because they live on an island and were deeply isolated in earlier times.

The ancient chronicles talk about great religious pilgrimages and pagan festivals animated by the rhythms of bass drums, guitars, bagpipes and even flutes. The region has a strong tradition regarding folk and light music, with many emigrants excelling in their host countries.

In Madeira, there isn’t any festival without music, where usually act folkloric groups, philharmonic bands and other groups of light music.

Previously, the songs of agricultural labor were also very common, as well as religious music. Of the instruments used in the Madeira folk music stand out above all the hand chordophones. And among the most popular artists, we highlight Max, (Maximiano de Sousa), one of the most popular superstars of Portuguese radio, theater and television who died in 1980.

Across the island, proliferate 'cover' bands, which animate the summer festivals, and groups consolidated in traditional music, such as the Xarabanda. Then there are names that made through the world, into stories of great success, as the example of Luis Jardim, a percussionist and teacher from Madeira, producer of the song Believe by Cher and that worked with artists such as Tina Turner, George Michael, Rod Stewart Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, among others.