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Encounters and Collisions is a new work by Sara Serpa portraying episodes from her life since moving from Portugal to the US. It explores themes such as traveling, assimilation, identity, motherhood, loneliness and language and features Serpa’s long-time collaborators Ingrid Laubrock, Erik Friedlander and Angelica Sanchez.

“I think so many times about how we deal with change and loss. From moving to another country, to giving birth or grieving a loved one, my different reactions have often surprised me. And yet, life is change in itself. Sometimes drastic, most of the times subtle, we all go and move through constant change. We lose ourselves, countries, landscapes and cities, loved ones, thoughts and emotions. I wrote this music for someone else’s story only to realize I was writing my own story.” – Sara Serpa 

Sara Serpa voice/composition
Ingrid Laubrock saxophones
Angelica Sanchez piano
Erik Friedlander cello
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The voice of Sara Serpa possesses an innate intimacy, so subtle and graceful as to feel like a whispered
confession no matter the lyric, or whether there’s a lyric at all. Writing about Night Birds, Serpa’s 2023 duo album with her husband, guitarist André Matos, Nate Chinen said that the music, “feels like a peek inside a private conversation; the depth of their musical interplay, an extension of their personal bond, has the sense of something irreplaceable and precious.”

Despite that, Serpa has long avoided writing her own lyrics because, she says, “they’re so personal and
show so much about you.” With her breathtaking new album, Encounters and Collisions, she changes
course, embracing the art of intimate revelation with the most autobiographical music of her career. The
album, due out November 15, 2024 via Biophilia features Serpa’s longtime collaborators Ingrid
Laubrock on saxophone and Erik Friedlander on cello, joined by pianist Angelica Sanchez.


The themes that Serpa explores as the story of Encounters and Collisions unfolds will undoubtedly
resonate with many of her listeners – compelling tales of migration, home, family, motherhood, loss and
art. Not only does the singer reveal her experiences and emotions through her poetic, impressionistic
lyrics, but she relates her personal history explicitly through an accompanying set of short narrations, as well as a book of hand drawn comic strip-style illustrations that will be available for purchase in person or via the Biophilia website.

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Today you will be able to listen to the first single of my upcoming album Encounters and Collisions (Biophilia Records). Entitled Labor, it’s about (my) child birth and all the intensity, chaos, fear and magic it entangles.

Listen to new single here

First review here:

“I remain fascinated as I listen to this work, especially knowing that writing about one’s own story is incredibly delicate and difficult. I appreciate every nuance of this work and its particularly courageous approach. For all these reasons, this album has earned a place among our “Essential Albums.” And I will let Sara conclude: “The most humbling thing is to discover that, suddenly, it’s no longer about me,” she says. “It’s about all of us, and how we humans share so many experiences.”

Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News

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OJM: Today is The Question! – Composers of Our Time

João Pedro Brandão: musical direction

What music still amazes us? How can a big band, so marked by its legacy of tradition, enter this moving wheel that is experimentation and the search for new sounds?

The Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos invited six of the most unique and surprising names in contemporary jazz composition to bring completely new music to the first concert of this Jazz at Real Vinícola.

TODAY IS THE QUESTION! is a sound map of the worlds of Eve Risser, Kaja Draksler, Susana Santos Silva, Mariana Dionísio, Fuensanta Mendez and Sara Serpa. These are composers with a very strong and highly creative musical identity, coming from the most diverse contexts and geographies and who bring with them new paths for the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos to venture down.

Saturday, June 15, at 6pm in the Praça Exterior da Real Vinícola in Matosinhos.

Free entrance!

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The Consul General of Portugal in New York, Luisa Pais Lowe, says that it will be a joint concert by Portuguese composer and jazz singer based in the “city that never sleeps”, Sara Serpa accompanied by André Matos, and Brazilian jazz singer Denise Reis accompanied by Fernando Saci, followed by a Luso-Brazilian reception.

Register for this event, which is free and supported by the Camões Institute and the Guimarães Rosa Institute here. The space is large, but there is, of course, a capacity limit.

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Linda Many Han Oh’s Tiny Desk Concert is now online and Sara Serpa performs in 2 songs.

In this Tiny Desk, Oh presents a mix of cuts from her 2023 release, The Glass Hours, and new works. Her theme of resilience is exemplified in “The Imperative,” where drummer Mark Whitfield Jr. and tenor saxophonist Mark Turner shine. “Rise Mountains” is a conversation between the married duo of Oh and Almazan — at times a unified conversation, in others one where each takes a side. To close her set, Oh moves from upright bass to an electric for “Hatchling,” inspired by her and Almazan’s 3-year-old son. This whimsical song, with Oh and Sara Serpa vocalizing, paints a portrait of a tiny human discovering life and exploring a new world.

SET LIST

  • “Halo”
  • “The Imperative”
  • “Rise Mountains”
  • “Hatchling”

MUSICIANS

  • Linda May Han Oh: acoustic bass, electric bass
  • Fabian Almazan: piano/effects 
  • Sara Serpa: vocals
  • Mark Turner: tenor saxophone
  • Greg Ward: alto saxophone
  • Mark Whitfield Jr.: drums
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Exciting busy week ahead!

This week I will be traveling to Miami and to Washington DC.  See details below:

Wednesday, February 14, 12pm, FREE

Jazz at Wolfson Series

Miami Dade College, Wolfson Auditorium

Sara Serpa w/ Mark Small and other faculty members

Friday, February 16

NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Linda May Han Oh – The Glass Hours

w/ Fabian Almazan, Mark Turner, Mark Whitfield Jr.

Saturday, February 17, 7.30pm /9.30pm

Kennedy Center, Washington DC

Linda May Han Oh – The Glass Hours

w/ Fabian Almazan, Mark Turner, Mark Whitfield Jr.

Also, NYC friends, get your tickets for this unique concert in March in the city:

Saturday, March 2nd, 8pm

Miller Theatre, Columbia University

Linda May Han Oh- The Glass Hours

w/ Fabian Almazan, Mark Turner, Obed Calvaire

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After a 7 year hiatus (we have been busy parenting and with our own projects!) André Matos and I released “Night Birds”. We made it to a few Best of 2023 lists: Arts Fuse, Jazz.pt, Screen of Distance. We toured on the East Coast during Fall with Dov Manski and it was so much fun. A new live album is coming out soon.

“Listening and listening to Night Birds by Sara Serpa and André Matos even becomes a political act from which to take inspiration: it is possible to make an original speech without shouting or exaggerating the tones, exploring styles and forms with taste and freshness.” Alessandro Tacconi and Roberta Mangiacavalli, Off Topic Magazine

Our next performance:

Mar 30, 2024, 7:30 PM

Institute for the Musical Arts,

165 Cape St, Goshen, MA 01096, USA