NOHAB by Nuno Morão

disc 37 | 2024

Exactly three years ago, on May 1st, 2021, I launched my Bandcamp. Since then, I have been releasing albums in which I participated (both collaboratively and, more recently, solo) over the past 23 years. Today, in celebration of this modest anniversary, I am releasing this “fragment of sound observation”: an audio field recording of a short train journey between Évora and Casa Branca on December 8th, 2005.

The trip aboard Regional Train 6716 commenced from Évora at 7:14 PM and concluded upon arrival at Casa Branca at 7:46 PM, aboard a diesel railcar (a Simple Diesel Unit) from the CP 0100 series [ https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9rie_0100_da_CP ], about a year before these railcars were permanently withdrawn from service. The recording was made using a SONY MZ-R70 minidisc recorder [ https://www.minidisc.wiki/equipment/sony/portable/mz-r70 ] and a Panasonic stereo microphone.

The sound quality is not exceptional, due to both the equipment used and my limited experience at the time. However, I believe it is worth listening to as a journey back in time: the ambiance of Évora station (and upon arrival, Casa Branca), brief dialogues between the station master, the switchman, and the conductor, the horn signaling the departure, the closing doors, and the interior sound of the railcar on poorly maintained tracks. It is an audio document of the Évora Line in its final phase before 2006, prior to its transformation into a “high-performance railway,” where Intercity trains can now run at 200 km/h instead of the modest 40 or 50 km/h permitted by the Nohab railcar in those final months of railway decline (both for the railcar and the rail line).

Amidst the rhythmic “trance” of the rail joints and various railway noises, at one point we hear the stop at the old Tojal halt, and towards the end of the journey, there is the surprise of hearing a conversation between myself and the train conductor, where we shared some concerns and a certain fondness for the national railways.

Músico e engenheiro de som. Bateria, percussões, teclados e gravações-de-campo. | Musician and sound engineer. Drums, percussions, keyboards and field recordings.

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