The Obelisk Questionnaire: Diego Veiga of Moura
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Diego Veiga of Moura
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Moura is a project with the purpose of exploring Galician traditional music and folklore and blend it with psychedelia, progressive rock and an experimental approach. It’s an open-minded journey through our musical background and our Galician culture trying to be honest and respectful in our continuous research.
We knew each other from different musical adventures and the current lineup joined forces around 2016 with the intention of developing this idea after the key point of arranging Zeca Afonso’s “Ronda das Mafarricas.” That moment help to define the path we wanted to follow as a band.
Describe your first musical memory.
Listening to my Dad’s cassettes in the car during weekly trips to the Galician countryside where my family is from and my Dad’s vinyl record collection where you could find classic rock from ’60s and ’70s like Beatles, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Hendrix, CCR, Wings, etc. I remember the impact and excitement produced by that music from an early age so I ended up working at my uncle’s bakery in the rural one summer as a teenager to get enough money to buy myself an electric guitar.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I don’t think I can choose just one. There’re many good memories on stage with Moura and my previous projects but all of them have in common the feeling of being part of a collective experience bigger and deeper than myself, almost a trance or universal sense of belonging that I experienced also listening to some albums in a particular moment of my life or attending shows both alone and with friends.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Almost everyday. As I get older I try to be open minded and critical with my own views about everything and sometimes my mood also plays an important role.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
To new insights about oneself and the relation of the self with community, historical heritage, nature and human condition.
How do you define success?
Being able to transform my ideas into musical structures with the cooperation of my musical partners, recording the music we compose with freedom, releasing the work, making the whole effort a cathartic experience and having the chance of repeating the process not losing money.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
The death of critical thinking, the fall of societies based on communal relationships and the rise of sick individuality.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A soundtrack for an experimental ethnographic documentary about Galicia.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Universal communication through infinite formulas and forms of language.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Next road trip with my [partner]. We love exploring countryside, rural ancient sites, enjoying nature and driving around mountain roads. It’s a way of reconnecting with our homeland history and with ourselves. She loves taking photographs and I love any bunch of stones I find.
https://www.facebook.com/moura.banda/
https://www.instagram.com/moura.banda/
https://eiradamoura.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SpindaRecords
https://www.instagram.com/spindarecords
https://spindarecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.spindarecords.com/
