Rafael Bittencourt

Rafael Bittencourt is the only musician present on every Angra record, and the reason the band survived three changes of singer without losing its identity. Born in São Paulo in 1971, he founded the group in 1991 and has since combined the roles of guitarist, principal composer, producer and, in practice, keeper of the project. His training is in classical guitar, and that defines how he writes: he thinks in harmony and counterpoint before thinking in riffs, which explains the long structures and modulations that rarely appear in European power metal. It is also where the integration of Brazilian music into the repertoire comes from — not as decorative quotation, but as thematic material. Holy Land (1996), a concept album about the discovery of Brazil, is the fullest formulation of that idea, and tracks like "Nothing to Say" and "Carolina IV" show what he meant by mixing the two traditions. He crossed the Andre Matos era, the traumatic split of 2000, the rebuilding with Edu Falaschi, the years with Fabio Lione and the arrival of Alírio Netto — in each of those phases he was the element that did not change. Outside Angra he maintains the Bittencourt Project, works as a producer and devotes a considerable share of his time to teaching and lecturing, an activity in which he has become one of the most articulate voices on music in Brazil.