Happy birthday, André Dal! Beyond the Tagus River release today

In April the BIB reported that André Dal, the prime mover of bluegrass music in Portugal, had launched a Crowdfunding campaign for his long-awaited solo album Beyond the Tagus River. The campaign achieved its target within two weeks; and the album is released today (Thurs. 17 June), which is also André's birthday.

In April the launch of the funding campaign was marked by John Lawless in a Bluegrass Today feature that included a descriptive video and outlined the background to the album (shown in more detail in Tom Nechville's article and interview in the Dec. 2018 Banjo News Letter, 'Andre Dal: persistance and adaptation in adversity'). André was also interviewed on Lynne Nash's 'Bands in the boudoir' podcast on Buzzsprout.

In the May 2021 issue of Banjo News Letter Tony Trischka called the album

a fantastic project, worthy of many repeated listenings [...] a global potpourri of acoustic excellence.

This alludes to the sixteen musicians from ten different countries who took part - including Reuben Agnew, guitarist of Co. Armagh's Cup O' Joe. Each of them is described, together with a photo, in the attractive twelve-page full-colour booklet accompanying the album.

Two singles are already on YouTube: the title track 'Beyond the Tagus River' and Dal's breakdown'. The complete album can be heard on CDBaby's Hearnow.com website, with links to other digital platforms (such as Spotify) for purchase.

© Richard Hawkins