ARMINDO NEVES

Born: December 4th, 1955, Lisbon (Portugal)

Nationality: Portuguese

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

In the 1970s, Armindo Neves won prominence as one of Portugal’s best jazz guitarists, being a member of the Girassol Orchestra of conductor Zé Eduardo. For some time, he also played the electric guitar in progressive rock group Banda do Casaco. Later, he wrote string arrangements for Beto Betuk and conducted the orchestra in concerts of Duarte Mendes and Dulce Pontes.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Between 1978 and 1990, he arranged and conducted seven hopefuls in the RTP Festival da Canção, the Portuguese Eurovision heats; moreover, in 1991 he wrote the arrangement to one more entry. In 1993, Neves was the musical director of the same show, conducting all eight entries and travelling along with winner Anabela to Millstreet (Ireland) to lead the orchestra during her rendition of ‘A cidade até ser dia’, a subtle composition about the nightfall. The orchestration was written by co-composer Pedro Abrantes. This Portuguese entry, with lyrics by Paulo de Carvalho, finished tenth. In 2000, Portugal was no participant in the Eurovision Song Contest due to its poor results in the years before; however, RTP organized a Festival da Canção with an orchestra led by Neves to accompany all eight entries, including the victorious ‘Sonhos magicos’ sung by Liana.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1993 Millstreet

Country – Portugal

Song title – “A cidade até ser dia”

Rendition – Anabela Teixeira

Lyrics – Paulo da Costa

Composition – Pedro Abrantes / Marco Quelhas

Studio arrangement – Fernando Abrantes

Live orchestration – Armindo Neves

Conductor – Armindo Neves

Score – 10th place (60 votes)