Memories of Mario Rui Silva
Percussionist Tello Morgado recalls his time with the late Angolan musician and musicologist Mario Rui Silva - recounting tales of his warm spirit and deep cultural knowledge.
Tello Morgado shared cherished memories of Mario Rui Silva as a part of the Time Capsule take over on Worldwide FM. A student and mentee of Mario Rui, Tello featured as a part of his band during their 2021 UK tour. Here is what he had to say:
‘Hi there. My name is Tello Morgado. I'm a musician coming from a lineage of generations of percussionists. So a big responsibility really to carry this legacy for all my ancestors. Mario Rui Silva was a very important musician, composer, and musicologist from Angola. He's done research for almost 45 years, studying, writing and composing, and interpreting different artists from Angola, including all the classics.
Professor Mario Rui, the way I used to call him. He never really liked me to call him Professor Mairo Rui. He used to always tell me off ‘No Morgado, Don't call me professor! I'm not a professor!’. And I used to tell him ‘no, you are a professor because you've been teaching me since I contacted you!’ the first time was when I was doing my master's degree at SOAS University in music.
I contacted you because I needed help for my thesis. And ever since you continued teaching me and mentoring me and this is one of the reasons I used to call him teacher because he was actually a teacher, but he never wants to admit it, he was so humble. He was very humble, a very reserved man.
I had a couple different friends of mine, actually musicians, telling me that I was a very privileged person. He was part of the iconic record from Bonga 'Angola 72’. He played all the guitars and he was the arranger of that album, that iconic album - with Bonga, the singer and percussionist.
And this is when I first came across Professor Mairo Rui actually. After growing up with this album (my parents had the vinyl at home), I didn't really know it was Professor Mairo Rui, until later on, someone told me that Professor Mairo Rui actually played guitar and did all the arrangements on that album.
He knew a lot. He's been researching Angolan music for 45 years. It's unbelievable, I have books from other musicologists and people who wrote about Angolan culture and music, and no one has done what he's done in terms of research and music history. He was more focused in Luanda, but he also covers other parts of Angola as well.
He was one of the most important persons in my life for the last five years. And he will continue to be one of the most important people in my life in the future. It was so sudden the way he left us.
For the last five years, we've been communicating over the phone every week. We've been exchanging music, he's been sending me music, he's been giving me a lot of homework! And, he's been sending me books to read, but all from him – he's the author. He's been the author of most of the material that I've been studying.
The loss is so big that sometimes it's hard to believe that someone like Mario Rui Silva has left us. He was young, 71. He had an amazing sense of humor. He was very charismatic. He was fun to be with. He was a very young spirit.
His music, the quality of his music, was very rare in African modern composers. The melodic side of it, the instrumentation, his virtuosity and the way he used to play guitar. And this touch is sensibility as well. His music is connected to literature, Angolan literature. And he's connected to very important figures of Angolan society, especially in Luanda, the capital.
In his research, in his music, in his composition, he goes back, back to the 1800s. He interprets songs like ‘Madia Kandimba’, which is one of the oldest songs from Angola. Which is apparently is a song from 1920s (we believe it even is even older than that).
Julio Silvio Heredias, he was the man who actually transcribed traditional instruments to the guitar, later to the piano. Professor Mario Rui, was his student. And he was most privileged, a very dedicated student. Professor Mario Rui. He used to call him ‘his spiritual mentor’ of Angolan culture in music.
Playing with Professor Mario Rui was an amazing experience. It was organized by Time Capsule and Kay Suzuki, he's done an amazing job putting a compilation album together. ‘Stories From Another Time 1982-1988’, which was released in 2021. Great compilation on vinyl, as well as organizing the whole tour. It was a wonderful time sharing with a wonderful man, a great player, a beautiful man.’
⬆️ Mario Rui Silva and band performing in the Brownswood basement, 2021