José Luís Peixoto and Os Caldeireiros de São João

José Luís Peixoto is one of the most outstanding writers of contemporary Portuguese literature. His work has been distinguished with multiple national and international awards, such as the José Saramago Literary Prize or Oceanos — Prize for Literature in Portuguese Language, among others.

​His novels have been translated into more than 30 languages and published in publishers such as Quetzal (Portugal), Companhia das Letras and Dublinense (Brazil), Bloomsbury and Anchor (English), Penguin Random House (Spanish), Seuil (French), Einaudi (Italian), among many others.

In the field of travel literature, he has published the books Dentro do Segredo (Quetzal, 2012, and Companhia das Letras, 2013) and O Caminho Imperfeito (Quetzal, 2017, and Dublinense, 2020). He has extensive collaboration in the press regarding travel writing, mainly in the magazine Volta ao Mundo (Global Notícias, Portugal) and in the magazine Viagem e Turismo (Grupo Abril, Brazil).

The Coral Group “Os Caldeireiros de São João” was founded in 2004, in São João de Caldeireiros, Mértola. The group rehearses weekly at the Cultural and Recreation Center in Tacões.

The "highs" are Domingos Rodrigues, Francisco Damos and António Jaime and the "points" Manuel Brito, Francisco José Costa, Jacinto Rosa, Manuel Bento Horta and Jorge Silvestre. They sing modas taken from what they say is the “popular songbook” such as, “What an envy you have of the roses”, “I was once an immigrant” and “Fly dove fly”. The current rehearsers of the group are Manuel Brito and Francisco Damos.