Portugal are kick-starting their Eurovision search one more on Saturday, with the famous Festival da Canção beginning with its first semi-final. One of the participants in Saturday’s show is Miguel Marôco, a young rising talent in the Portuguese music scene, who will take part with “Girassol”.
We spoke with Miguel ahead of this weekend’s show about the beatiful landscape of his country, his beginnings in music and the unique way he came to be involved with this year’s competition!
Olá Miguel! First of all, thank you for taking the time to speak to us. What can you tell us about yourself? What should we all know about Miguel?
Hi, I’m a 21 year old from Portugal, more precisely from Sintra. I’m currently studying mathematics at a post-graduate level and trying to advance my career in music, simultaneously. I play a couple of instruments and try to do as much of the musical process myself as possible. As a person, I think I’m somewhat humble and not very sure of myself.
Can you remember your first experience in music? What made you want to be a musician?
I was very young so I don’t really remember it very clearly. I started when I was 5, in my local philharmonic, so it must’ve been some little performance there. I guess I went into music because I was just… interested in it? I was always singing and humming and so on, so my dad enrolled me in the local phillarmonic’s music school and well, the rest is history!
What was your reason for joining this year’s Festival da Canção?
I didn’t actually join voluntarily. My dad submitted the song without my knowledge so it came as a complete surprise. For that I can’t really say I had a reason for joining… But now I’m certainly very glad I’m here.
Can you tell us the message behind your FdC entry “Girassol”?
“Girassol” is at first glance a very happy song but under the surface, mostly in the lyrics, it tells a slightly more nuanced story. It talks about certain questions of growing up, life in general and about a certain type of ideal that one can look for, but maybe, hardly ever find.
Do you have any general impressions of Eurovision? Do you have any favourite entries from the contest?
I have the impression that it is a really huge event which has fans all over the world. Favourite entry would be the only winning song for Portugal – “Amar Pelos Dois”.
If you could duet with any artist, who would it be and why?
I’ve been asked this question before and I said Stevie Wonder and I stand my ground, though there are many many others I’d love to work with.
What is your favourite thing about Portugal that the rest of the world should know about?
I think there’s quite a lot of things. But one thing which seems more or less unique is that, for the size of the country, we have a lot of landscape variety. In less than a hour you can go from a beach to a mountain and I think that’s pretty neat. Besides that, I really appreciate the little things, but I guess that might be cause it is my country.
One last question – what would be the first thing you did if you won Eurovision in Rotterdam?
Maybe have an heart attack? Hopefully not! I guess I’d go on with my usual life, with a pretty significant feat, but I’m really not thinking about it. I guess we’ll see.
Thank you for taking the time to speak to us Miguel. We wish you the best of luck in Festival da Canção!
Miguel Marôco will take part in Saturday’s first semi-final of Festival da Canção with the song “Girassol”, hoping to represent Portugal in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam.
Want to share the love with Miguel on social media? #YOU can find him on Instagram, and can also follow his music releases on YouTube and Spotify!
What do #YOU think of “Girassol”? Share your thoughts with us on our forum HERE or join the discussion below and on social media!
