Portuguese composer opens eatery in New Taipei

Portuguese composer opens eatery in New Taipei

2023-05-21

Today we take you to meet Portuguese composer Fernando Antonio Dos Santos. In Portugal, he was an accomplished piano composer. He moved to Taiwan with his Taiwanese wife three years ago. His combined love for music and culture led him to open a cafe serving handmade classic Portuguese delicacies with live piano shows. Our very own Stephany Yang sat down with dos Santos in his eatery to find out more.

Dos Santos’ fingers fly across the piano. He takes turns playing the piano as well as the guzheng, one of the oldest Chinese musical instruments.

Dos Santos once visited Taroko Gorge and met with Amis musicians. After his visit, he fell in love with the scenery and culture of the place. Therefore, he decided to capture the memories he had of Taroko in this piece. You can almost hear the sounds of the water and birds chirping.

Fernando Antonio Dos Santos
Composer and restaurant founder
I tried to bring the moemnt of the waves and the seas. I tried to get the birds in the Taroko. This was totally improvised. I compose many music and I can write this music for other musicians but I never play the same way because they really have to be kept alive.

Dos Santos was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and grew up in Portugal. He started studying music when he was 5 years old. Dos Santos was a composer for several iconic Portuguese television productions of the 1990s. With a career spanning for decades, dos Santos was one of the youngest producers in Portugal at the time he started out. He credits his success to learning from a few of his mentors in the music industry, never giving up, and having a thirst for learning.

Fernando Antonio Dos Santos
Composer and founder
I was very young, like 20 or 21. I learned with the teachers at that time. There were no real schools to learn the things. My masters were two great sound music engineers Jose Fortes and Joao Rapazote. They were really big.

Dos Santos met his Taiwanese wife in Portugal, and the two decided to move to Taiwan in 2020. Two years later, dos Santos decided to open up a cafe that serves traditional Portuguese food such as clams and Portuguese coffee. Dos Santos said he first learned how to cook with his grandmother. This formerly abandoned space in Banqiao was torn up and renovated by hand by dos Santos. The furniture was made by dos Santos, using old wood and corks, to transform it into chairs, tables, and other furniture.

Fernando Antonio Dos Santos
Composer and founder
She taught me how to cook the basics at very young like seven or eight. Around eight years old. We hope that this food is as healthy as the food that I give to Susana and Rafael, my daughters and sons. Or to my family or to my family or to my mother because that is what my grandmother made. She made the food that we would eat, was tasty but she want us to grow healthy. It is the same concept. We tried to use some woods that were in the shop. I used everything I could to recycle, to reuse or recycle another object.

Though his food is delicious, he believes the "strongest dish" he serves is his piano playing and he often invites others to join in with him.

He says that his patrons first enter his eatery as customers, but later quickly become his life-long friends.

Paul Lin
Patron
I was taking a walk the other night and I found this place. I came in and talked to Fernando. He shared with me.

David Lin
Patron
He brought me back the next day. We were playing music together and we became really close friends in two days. The use of white wine and the sauce is amazing. It has garlic and ginger. The parsley. It is similar to what we have in Taiwan but I guess we got the magic touch from Portugal here so it is absolutely delicious .

Fernando Antonio Dos Santos
Composer and founder
I try and we try to give this place what was not here. In the beginning to now, we are very happy. I think we don’t have clients. We have clients for the first hour or two hours they come in. They are clients. But after that, they are your friends.

Dos Santos hopes that the bistro cafe can help connect people of all cultures and backgrounds and bridge the gap between Taiwan and Portugal. From being a composer and now a chef, Dos Santos hopes to continue to use his talents to introduce Portugal and music to more people around the world.

葡籍作曲家娶台女開音樂咖啡廳連結台葡文化

2023-05-21

今天向大家介紹來自葡萄牙的作曲家費南多，他是一位多才多藝的鋼琴作曲家。三年前，他與台灣妻子移居台灣，他對音樂和文化的熱愛激發他開一家咖啡廳，販賣自製的經典葡萄牙美食並結合音樂元素，在現場演出鋼琴秀。

費南多的手指在鋼琴上飛舞，他輪流彈奏鋼琴和來自中國的國樂器，古箏。

費南多曾探訪太魯閣，會見阿美族音樂家。參觀之後，他愛上了這裡的風景和文化。因此，他決定透過歌曲，捕捉他對太魯閣的記憶。你幾乎可以從曲中聽到水聲和鳥鳴聲。

[[創辦人費南多]]
"我試圖再造當時聽到的浪濤聲的記憶以及鳥鳴聲，這完全是即興演出的。我創作了很多音樂，我可以為其他音樂家作曲，但我從來沒有用同樣的方式現場演奏，因為我希望讓音樂有活力。"

費南多出生於剛果，在葡萄牙長大。他5歲時開始學習音樂。費南多是1990年代幾部經典葡萄牙電視劇的作曲家。費南多的職業生涯長達數十年，在他剛出道時，是葡萄牙最年輕的電視作曲家之一。他將自己的成功歸功於向音樂界的幾位前輩學習、永不放棄的精神以及對學習的渴望。

[[創辦人費南多]]
"我當時還很年輕，大概20、21歲。那時候跟老師學，沒有學校可以學到這些東西。我的師父是兩位偉大的音樂家Jose Fortes和Joao Rapazote。他們真的很厲害。"

費南多在葡萄牙認識了台灣妻子，兩人決定在2020年移居台灣。兩年後，費南多決定開一家咖啡館，販賣傳統葡萄牙美食，如蛤蜊和葡萄牙咖啡。費南多說，最初是他的祖母教他做菜的，而板橋這個曾經廢棄的空間，是費南多親手改建的。這些家具由費南多製作，使用舊木頭和木塞將他們改造成椅子、桌子和其他家具。

[[創辦人費南多]]
"祖母在我很小的時候就教我如何煮飯，比如七歲、八歲左右。我們希望這種食物和我做給我的子女蘇珊娜和拉斐爾的料理一樣健康，或是做給我的家人或我的母親的料理一樣，因為那是我祖母親手做的。她做了我們會吃的食物，很好吃，但她希望我們吃健康的食物成長。這是相同的概念，我們嘗試使用以前留在這裡的一些木材，我盡我所能來回收、再利用這些東西。"

雖然他的食物很美味，但他認為自己的"招牌菜"卻是他的鋼琴演奏，他還經常邀請其他人一起表演。

他說，他的顧客最初只是來咖啡廳消費，但後來很快就成為他的終生好友。

[[客人 Paul Lin]]
"那天晚上我在散步，我發現了這裡。我進來和費爾南聊天，他與我分享他的故事。"

[[客人 David Lin]]
"第二天他就把我帶來這裡。我們一起演奏音樂在短短兩天我們就成了非常要好的朋友。這裡的白酒醬汁很美味，它還有大蒜、生薑及歐洲芹菜，食物很像台灣口味，但這邊因為多了葡萄牙的魔力，所以很好吃。"

[[創辦人費南多]]
"我嘗試給這個地方帶來不同於以往的元素。從開始到現在，我們都很開心。我們沒有永遠的「客人」，客人在進來的頭一兩個小時是客人，之後，他們就變成了朋友。"

費南多希望咖啡廳可以幫助連接所有不同文化和來自各種背景的人們，並結合台灣和葡萄牙的特色。從作曲家到現在的主廚身分，費南多希望繼續發揮才能，將葡萄牙和音樂之美介紹給大家。

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On the eve of the World Health Assembly, Taiwan’s representative office in Geneva held a reception for foreign diplomats. Those who came to show support included not only representatives of Taiwan’s 11 diplomatic allies, but also members of the Swiss parliament.

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I have studied butterflies since I was a child. I have a deep affection for them. Everyone knows about the purple crow butterfly, because it is the most common butterfly in Taiwan. But because of that we also overlook them. These butterflies, which were so common in our lives, are now facing a crisis and disappearing. This is what “Lost Butterfly” wants to discuss.

Every September, purple crow butterflies travel more than 150 kilometers for their seasonal migration. They overwinter in Southern Taiwan, in a place known locally as the “Purple Butterfly Valley.” Not all of them make it, as many are killed by cars on a freeway that crosses the valley. To create a safer path for the insect, the National Freeway Bureau sets up nets along the road. It even closes some lanes to traffic if more than 250 butterflies are detected crossing the road in one minute. This policy is unique in the world.

Lin Yu-chang
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We hope to showcase Taiwan’s unique subspecies of the purple crow butterfly. In Taiwan, we have established an overwintering valley for butterflies. The purple crow butterfly is very special in their winter migrations. So for their sake, we launched protocols so that they can fly across the highway. This is very important.

Chang visited various places in Taiwan to conduct research for his documentary. He discovered that Kenting was a safe place for purple crow butterflies to reproduce.

Chan Chia-lung
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We conducted a survey about the purple crow butterfly at Kenting Park National Park last year, and we discovered that the park is one of the largest breeding grounds in Taiwan’s plains. In the past, the purple crow butterfly could be found all over the plains and in low-altitude areas. Now, Kenting National Park is the only forested national park down in the plains. The purple crow butterfly is preserved at Kenting National Park, which receives a large number of butterflies in the annual migrations.

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