Francisca Cortesão
vox, guitars
has also written songs for other Portuguese artists. Cristina Branco recently released “Delicadeza” as the advance single of her album Eva. Along with Afonso Cabral, Cortesão wrote the unexpected hit “Anda Estragar-me Os Planos”, originally sung by Joana Barra Vaz and since reinterpreted by Salvador Sobral (who included a version in his 2019 album Paris Lisboa), Afonso Cabral himself, and Tim Bernardes, among others. beyond Minta & The Brook Trout, she currently plays with They’re Heading West, Bruno Pernadas, Lena D’Água, and rapper Capicua and guitarist Pedro Geraldes’ children’s music project Mão Verde as well as in Mais Alto!, a concert for children and teenagers which covers protest songs (in the broadest sense of the term), put into context by Planeta Tangerina’s Isabel Minhós Martins. besides working as a musician and songwriter, Francisca Cortesão is a translator.
Mariana Ricardo
vox, bass, ukulele
has been an active member of the Lisbon music-making scene since 1994. she currently plays with The Secret Museum of Mankind, Silence is a Boy, Lena D’Água and They’re Heading West. earlier projects included Pinhead Society, Rock Group Tiger and München (if you can read Portuguese, this is a very cool interview). Mariana Ricardo makes music for film and stage and is also a screenwriter, having co-written films such as Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012) and Technoboss (João Nicolau, 2019).
Margarida Campelo
piano, keyboards, vox
plays keyboards, piano and sings – and does both at same time like few other people in the planet! – with Lisbon-based bands and artists of radically different styles, including Real Combo Lisbonense, Bruno Pernadas, Cassete Pirata and Joana Espadinha. a classical and jazz-trained pianist and singer, Margarida Campelo is also a teacher at Luís Villas Boas Jazz School in Lisbon.
Tomás Sousa
drums, percussion, vox
is a member of Lisbon band You Can’t Win Charlie Brown, who are currently working on their fourth album. Tomás Sousa is also a motion designer and music video director: YCW,CB’s video for “Above The Wall” is a fine example of his work.
Minta & The Brook Trout is a Lisbon-based band. it began as a solo home-made recording venture in 2006, which means this music has been around for about 15 years.
Demolition Derby, our fourth album, is out now.
at this very moment, Minta & The Brook Trout is:
Francisca Cortesão (vox, guitars, songwriting),
Mariana Ricardo (vox, bass, ukulele, production),
Margarida Campelo (keyboards, vox)
and Tomás Sousa (drums, vox).
this is the place to listen to all of our music (as well as read the lyrics and check out who worked on each recording, if that’s something you like doing), watch our videos, find out where we’re playing next and who to contact if you want to book a show or an interview.
you can also sign up for our mailing list, if you haven’t done so yet.
thanks for stopping by!
Demolition Derby
is out on April 16th 2021
as part of a generation of Portuguese musicians with the healthy habit of playing in each other’s bands as well as with other artists, like fellow Lisboans You Can’t Win Charlie Brown or Julie & The Carjackers, which came about at around the same time, we have played all over the country, from house shows to major festivals, and occasional shows in other parts of Europe, having also played in Japan and the US. some of our records have been released by independent record labels in the US and are currently being distributed in Japan by Disk Union.
our band’s formation is not stable: since coming up with the name, in 2009, an ever-changing line up of extremely talented Lisbon-based band members and guest musicians play songs written by yours truly – Francisca Cortesão, aka Minta herself – and coaxed into shape by Mariana Ricardo, who has produced all of our recordings.
our new record, Demolition Derby (2021), follows Slow (2016) and its companion Row EP (2017), Olympia and the self-titled 2009 release Minta & The Brook Trout as the fourth LP in our discography, which also includes a live album made with friends on a cold December night in 2010 (Carnide, 2010), and a covers EP of songs Out Of Washington State (2013).