AMF

António Gaspar Mão de Ferro Gualter Cardoso (AMF) was born in Oporto on the 25th of June 1976. His rela­tion­ship with music began at the age of 11 and with the influ­ence of his father Joaquim Cardoso, busi­ness­man and renowned musi­cian of the famous band Tártarosin the 60s, the gui­tar became his reference.

Soon he dis­cov­ered music as the pas­sion of his life. He became a self-taught gui­tar player and grew up under his father’s guid­ance. António joined his first band at the age 13,Sociofobia, a sym­phonic rock band.

He cre­ated his own style based on the Blues. The magic and ecstasy with which he played, high­lighted the excel­lent qual­ity and cre­ativ­ity of his solos. At 17, the Blues gained def­i­nitely an impor­tant place in his musi­cal life, with the bands Rythm, Funk, Soul and Blues. He gath­ered expe­ri­ence and con­sol­i­da­tion as a gui­tarist and musi­cian by play­ing in bars and jazz clubs around the country.

A year later he par­tic­i­pated for the first time in his life, in the mak­ing of a record and joined that same year the Minnemann Blues Band, one of the old­est bands of its kind in Portugal with renowned musi­cians: Wolfram Minnemann, Manuzé, Rui Ferraz and Rui Azul. He par­tic­i­pated in many fes­ti­vals of Jazz and Blues (Funchal Jazz, Blues Simply, Viana do Castelo and Seia Jazz and Blues Douro). He recorded Live in 1996, in the Blues Café in Lisbon.

In 1998, at the age of 22, AMF joined the well known Portuguese band GNR (New Rock Group) along­side names like Rui Reininho and Toli César Machado. He recorded Poplessand Do Lado dos Cisnes in 2002, one of the most famous records of this band. There were numer­ous per­for­mances on tele­vi­sion and in con­certs at home and abroad, cul­mi­nat­ing in 2006 with the cel­e­bra­tion of the 25 years of GNR in the well-known Rock In Rio fes­ti­val in Lisbon.

In 2004, the bassist Jerrell Lamar, one of the mem­bers of the Platters who played withGino Vanelli, Herbie Hancock and Stevie Ray Vaughan, invited Antonio to par­tic­i­pate in his solo project. In 2005 AMF recorded 4 tracks of this project, also with the par­tic­i­pa­tion of:Gregg Bissonette, Marcio Montarroyos, Ney Matogrosso and Alcione.

In addi­tion to these names, AMF con­tin­ued to sur­prise every­one and every­thing as a gui­tarist and com­poser and on his résumé stand out more col­lab­o­ra­tions on var­i­ous projects with notable names in inter­na­tional and Portuguese music: Mable John (Raelettes — Ray Charles), Zakiya Hooker (daugh­ter of the leg­endary John Lee Hooker), Katie Warrior andRui Veloso.