Aguas: Time and Memory | A Jazz Concert with Damián Birbrier and Guests

On January 8, please join the Museum of Jewish Montreal at Casa del Popolo with Damián Birbrier and guests for a concert that weaves memory into improvised soundscapes.

As a continuation of the project previously presented in Aguas: Dialogues Through Improvised Music, this new jazz concert opens a deeper chapter in the exploration of sound, space, and the passage of time. Aguas: Time and Memories focuses on the traces that linger within us: memories inherited, forgotten, or rediscovered, and how they resurface through improvised music.

For this new edition, the ensemble expands into a quartet, bringing together: Damián Birbrier (saxophones), Vovô Saramanda, (percussion), Manoel Vieira (piano and accordion), and Antoine Rochefort (bass).

This new configuration offers a wide and fluid sonic palette, allowing the music to move between intimate textures, open landscapes, and dense collective improvisations. Each performance emerges spontaneously from shared listening, personal histories, and the atmosphere of the room, creating a space where time feels elastic and memory becomes sound.

Listeners are immersed in a living soundscape, engaging with the music as it takes shape and reveals its unexpected contours.

Advance tickets $16. Door tickets $20. Doors at 7:30pm. Performance at 8:00pm. Capacity is limited so early registration is encouraged. Reserve your ticket here.

Accessibility: This event will take place offsite at Casa del Popolo (4873 boul. Saint-Laurent). This venue is accessible via ramp from the main entrance.

About the Performers:

Born in Buenos Aires to a Brazilian mother and a Jewish Argentinean father, saxophonist, improviser, and composer Damián Birbrier was raised in the lush countryside of Southcentral Brazil. He began his musical journey within the vibrant tradition of local marching bands and popular rhythms.

Born in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, in 1954, Vovô Saramanda is a dynamic artist who blends the roles of singer, songwriter, and percussionist. After moving to Montreal in 1980, he became a trailblazer at the city’s International Jazz Festival and contributed significantly to Cirque du Soleil’s iconic show O.

Manoel Vieira is a jazz and classical composer and pianist. He is known for his versatility, versatility and artistic plurality. Holds a PhD in jazz piano from Laval University in Canada and a master’s degree in classical piano from the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil. Manoel Vieira works regularly in several music schools in Quebec and as a professor at the University of Montreal.

Antoine Rochefort is a Montreal-based bassist, composer, and performer who draws inspiration from the various musical styles he loves to create his own personal language. Always in search of new sources of inspiration, his music is infused with jazz, soul, Latin music, and funk, played on a variety of electric basses and double bass.

This event is presented as a part of the Montreal Jewish Arts Collaborative (MJAC) granting initiative, made possible through the support of the Averbach Family Foundation, CANVAS, and the Azrieli Foundation.