Interview. Pedro Mafama: “Without Ana [Moura] There was no such joy in me” – Ferver

Born in Lisbon, on September 17, 1992 (31 years old), Pedro Simões, known throughout the country by his artistic name Pedro Mafama, began studying Multimedia and then Fine Arts at the Escola Superior de Artes e Design, in Caldas da Rainha . He started playing music at the age of 16, then under the name Pedro Simmons. He released his debut album ‘Por Este Rio Below’ in 2021 and two years later he released ‘Estava No Abismo Mas Dei Um Passo Em Frente’. In 2022 he became the father of a girl, the result of a two-year relationship with fado singer Ana Moura.

There’s a new single, ‘Sem Ti’. After the song ‘Preço Certo’ and having Portugal sing ‘Olarilolé’, it can’t be easy to make new songs! Did you feel that pressure?
No, because I’m not trying to repeat anything. I think the success of the album ‘Eu Está no Abismo e Dei um Passo em Frente’ [que tinha a música ‘Preço Certo’] it was done precisely because I didn’t want to repeat what I had already done on the debut album ‘Por este Rio Below’. This ‘Sem Ti’ isn’t even an attempt to make the next summer hit. It’s just another chapter of my art.

But in the case of such great successes, isn’t there a danger of the work turning against its creator, in the sense of creating some anxiety about what will come next?
No. What I wanted to do with ‘Price is Right’ was something that would reach everyone. I wanted to enter every Portuguese home and say: “I’m here. Look at our culture”. But I also know that if I stay at people’s houses for too long, they’ll get tired of me. What I want is to have new experiences.

But did the success of ‘Preço Certo’ surprise you?
It’s funny because at the same time that there was a very big performative side to ‘Preço Certo’, with a marketing maneuver that made me known in a very genuine way, on the other hand it was also very unprotected. For the music video, for example, everything was recorded immediately. That’s why I say that I entered the Portuguese house in the most genuine way possible, because there wasn’t even post-production there. That really surprised me, the way people were able to see that I was there with good intentions, that I just wanted to reach everyone and give the whole country a helping hand.

What perception do you have about the profile of people who picked up this song?
I think this song is a case of transversality, although I believe it won’t be that way forever. The most special thing about this song was that it played to people from two to 92 years old. That’s why I think it’s a unique song. This reminds me a little of the success of Buraka Som Sistema, for whom I worked selling merchandising. I remember seeing this at their concerts: grandchildren, children, parents and grandparents.

Do you have any idea how many concerts you performed last year?
I think there were about 62.

And he must have been through all the parties and pilgrimages!
Yes. And even the places we went reflect what I said, about the diversity of the public.

Are there stories left untold?
Yes, some (laughs). I remember a concert inside, but I don’t remember the name of the place, in which there was a stage invasion, because the firefighters who were providing security had to leave the venue to respond to a fire. People realized they were on their own and invaded the stage. I think, at that moment, I felt like Ronaldo must have felt.

Returning to this new ‘Sem Ti’, there is a verse in which he sings: “I no longer expected/to find someone like you/But I did”. It is easy to see that this verse has an addressee: Ana Moura. To what extent did Ana change Pedro and vice versa?
I think we both changed each other, in very different ways. Without this person, and without everything that has happened to me in recent years, there would not be this joy in me of the ‘Price is Right’. My life is now a celebration and before it wasn’t. People who remember my first album know that I was very different. Ana brought me and brings me many good things every day, as happens with anyone we love. She teaches me a lot and I hope I can do it too.
Pedro even said, when he released his debut album ‘Por este Rio Below’, that it had been made at a not very good stage in his life.

What phase was this?
It was a very melancholic phase with bad habits at heart. I always liked those who hurt me. Maybe my fado side from the typical neighborhoods of Graça led me down that path. I also talk about this a lot in my songs, because we are always fighting with our demons. I know that a smile is never a complete smile.

Your daughter is already two years old. How is her relationship with her father’s music?
It’s funny because when I finished this new song, ‘Sem Ti’, I played it in the car and Emília immediately started clapping and dancing. When she finished she said to me: “Another one!” (laughter).

He was talking about the Graça neighborhood (Lisbon). To what extent was it decisive for what it is today?
It was very important, just like all the other environments that compose me. I’m from Graça, but I also come from a family of artists.

Was your family involved in music?
No… more to the visual arts.

And where do you think you got this vein for music?
I don’t think there is anyone in my family who is even slightly musical. Of course there was a lot of music at home but, above all, what I feel is that there was a great artistic streak. When Fernando Mendes asked me, on ‘Preço Certo’, what I did and I replied that I was an “artist”, he insisted: “What are you an artist?”. And I told him: “I’m a musical artist.” And that’s what I think I am, an artist, only then comes the music.

But despite his success, there are many people who accuse him of not knowing how to sing. How do you deal with that?
I know there are a lot of comments saying that I don’t sing at all and that I don’t have the talent to be in music. I’m aware of that. That’s why I say I’m not a singer, I’m an artist. If I lost my voice now, I know I would still be able to express myself. I found another way, because music allows me to express myself in different ways. Whenever I see comments against me, it doesn’t affect me at all. I trust my artistic vision.

But can you specify when you woke up to the arts?
I think my first artistic gesture was when, at school, I was asked to draw my mother. And I drew her naked. It was obviously not a Renaissance portrait, but it was a doll. It was my first artistic gesture, because it was done without a filter.

To what extent is Pedro Mafama, even in the way he presents himself on stage and in public, a puppet built by you?
Of course there is a construction side. I’m always designing myself and looking to explore something that I’d like to see questioned in the world. But I don’t exactly have a cape to go on stage and in my daily life I dress a lot like I appear on stage. I am a person fascinated with the universe of dance music and when I started thinking about this the way to express myself was to wear wide, ripped pants, a t-shirt always with one of the brands that the Mediterranean region loves, which are, for example , Calvin Klein, Armani, Diesel or Pepe Jeans, which is almost an identity thing. But I am already operating an evolution with more avant-garde clothing.

He says he even sold merchandise to the Burakas. What was that period like?
It was learning. They were my idols. Suddenly I was backstage and at the lunch table with the people I admired most. My legs shook when I was with them. We had very interesting conversations and I learned a lot. Like me, they thought a lot about this issue of creating a relationship between local and global culture.

But he also worked in a hostel and as a tour guide!
Yes, that was right after college. It’s funny because as a tour guide I already deviated a lot from what the usual tour was. One of the things I did was take tourists to see multicultural Lisbon, starting with places that denounced everything from the Arab presence to the African presence. He also spoke to them about fado. And, there it is, deviating from the route and the path is always something that will be part of me.

What’s next?
New goals. I’m here in a race to new heights. I have ambitious goals that I don’t care about revealing now, but I can say that I will always dream of Heaven.