MO museum (Pylimo str. 17, Vilnius)

On October 15 at 17.00, Pedro Costa, a renowned Portuguese music producer, festival curator, and founder of Clean Feed Records, one of the world’s most influential contemporary jazz labels, will continue the exploration of Portugal’s new jazz scene in a lecture titled ‘Clean Feed’: wrong but strong, 2001–2026’.

The global breakthrough of Portuguese free jazz and improvisational music would hardly have been possible without the efforts of the Clean Feed label. Costa founded it in 2001 together with a group of jazz enthusiasts. He succeeded in creating a business model that allows musicians to realize uncompromising creative ideas free from commercial pressure.

Today, the label’s catalogue comprises over 700 releases that have established Portugal as a major international hub for improvisational music. Costa not only documents the work of leading jazz innovators from Portugal and Europe but, as a festival curator, conference organizer, and lecturer, also regularly showcases Clean Feed artists across Europe and North America.

Costa was drawn into the world of ‘unheard music’ and the avant-garde by a passion for jazz, ignited in his childhood by his older brother, Carlos. Together, the brothers founded the Lisbon-based label Clean Feed, having previously established the cult jazz record store Trem Azul, a magnet for musicians and collectors alike.

Costa attributes his success to relying on ‘instinct, head, and heart’ and to democratic decision-making, without categorizing jazz musicians as newcomers or icons, or distinguishing between Americans, Portuguese, and other Europeans.

The international jazz critics’ community has repeatedly voted Clean Feed ‘the Best Label of the Year’.