By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer
Photo/Submitted
Hudson – Grupo das Candeias, a musical group based at the Hudson Portuguese Club (HPC), celebrated the release of its first CD at their annual “Festa das Candeias,” a dinner-dance for all ages held Feb. 7. Some of the group’s eight instrumentalists and five vocalists have known each other since living in Santo Espirito, a town on the island of Santa Maria in the Azores, Portugal.
The CD is aptly titled “Regresso ao Lar,” which translates as “Returning Home,” noted vocalist Juvenalia Chaves.
“We sing old songs that we learned as kids from Santa Maria and even some from the mainland,” she said. “The music brings people back to where they came from. That’s why we wanted to do the CD; it’s like we’re returning home.”
The group is named after Our Lady of Candeias, the church in Santo Espirito. They’ve also continued celebrating that town’s holiday by annually hosting “Festa Das Candeias” the first Saturday of February at HPC.
“Our Lady of Candeias is a holiday for us every Feb. 2 in Santo Espirito,” Chaves explained. “We used to go to the church and everybody would light handmade candles.”
In keeping with the tradition locally, homemade candles were distributed at “Festa Das Candeias” and lit by guests while Grupo das Candeias performed music. The ritual always prompts strong memories for the participants including Chaves, she said.
“The first year we did this was very emotional for me,” she shared. “You’re up onstage and you see all those candles light up. A lot of people like to come to ‘Festa das Candeias’ for that.”
Guests come for the music and candles – and certainly stay for the food. The menu featured traditional dishes from Santa Maria.
“Everybody really looks forward to the food that we make – especially the soup, bolo da panela,” Chaves noted.
She’s pleased that this year’s ‘Festa das Candeias’ was particularly successful.
“We usually have 200 people; this year we had 500,” she said. “I think it was because of the CD being released that night.”
Grupo das Candeias was founded 12 years ago by Manuel “Manny” Chaves (no relation to Juvenalia).
“Manny got everyone together to play music right before the club’s new facility was built, so we did a few fundraisers,” she said.
The group rehearses weekly at HPC. They also met periodically for the past two years at a recording studio in Hudson to work on the CD. Before the recording sessions began, the group’s 13 members voted for their favorite songs from a repertoire of 30. The CD includes 17 songs that garnered the most votes.
In addition to participating in the Holy Ghost Feast procession in Hudson, Grupo das Candeias has appeared at similar feasts in Fall River; Providence, R.I.; St. Petersburg, Fla; and Toronto, Canada. They’ve also performed frequently at the annual Day of Portugal in Cambridge. For the first time this past fall, the group entertained at the Marlborough Heritage Festival.
Their CD will be available soon online at sites such as Amazon, iTunes and CD Baby. Chaves is hopeful that the online access will attract interest from the younger generation.
“It’s important for us to keep the traditions alive,” she said. “Our kids will never know what it was like growing up in Portugal, except from what they’re learning from us.”
The other members of Grupo das Candeias are Antonio Braga, Artur Chaves, Elvira Chaves, Victor Chaves, Andre Costa, David Frias, Jose Funtado, Jose Manuel Leandres, Laura Monteiro, Jose Rego, Antonio Reis and Manuel Santos.
For more information about Grupo das Candeias and other activities at HPC, visit hudsonportugueseclub.org or facebook.com/HudsonPortugueseClub.
