BasAlt
The BasAlt duo was born in the winter of 2007 when Mies and her husband Adriaan visited Pieter and his wife Rini in Cais das Manadas on the Azores. They took a plane to the island of Faial and had to wait a couple of days because of bad weather before they could get to the island of São Jorge. Every day they talked on the phone, they could see the other island but they could not reach each other. In the end they had a very nice time together and when Mies left she wrote a little poem about the experience. Pieter liked the poem and wrote some music to it. When they sang it together the voices - Pieter “Bass” and Mies “Alt” blended surprisingly well. The BasAlt duo was born. The original song “Beaufort Blues” was the first result of a long and fruitful cooperation. In the meantime both couples live part of the year on São Jorge. Later Adriaan learned himself to play the ‘Viola da Terra’ (Guitar of the Land). He was one of the first foreigners on the island to do so. Since then they perform as a trio. The island, the local culture, the magnificent landscape, sailing, the sea, the beautiful language, all this is a constant source of inspiration.
