Filipa Santos

Biography
Articles

Filipa Santos is a saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist living and working in Porto, Portugal.
Her current work explores improvisation, electroacoustic interventions, extended vocal techniques, electronics, and wind instruments inspired by Portugal's intangible heritage and incorporating various jazz, avant-garde and world music influences into their music. She is one of the founding members of folk/ prog group Mandrágora.

She was awarded with the Carlos Paredes award for the album "Mandrágora" for the best non-classical instrumental album ex-aequo with "Ascent" by Bernardo Sassetti.

She was the first woman to introduce the bagpipes as a solo instrument in Portuguese instrumental music, breaking paradigms and reinventing the instrument.
Started playing music at the age of 6 and saxophone at the age of 11, having studied jazz since she was 15.

From 1997 to 2006 she also joined an Association for the bagpipe study and dissemination.
She studied classical and contemporary ballet for 11 years.

Awards

Carlos Paredes Award 2006

Filipa Santos ~ Miguel Moreira: Now Swim

by Don Ball
June 13, 2026

Atmospheric does not begin to describe Filipa Santos and Miguel Moreira's recording Now Swim. The music emits from another dimension, a soundtrack from the bottom of the ocean: exotic and dense, weird and abrasive, soothing and lulling, often simultaneously. Santos' saxophone, flute and voice are often unearthly, being manipulated electronically and creating an eerie, ghostly presence. Moreira's guitar and percussion programming vary from providing a deep rhythm to creating a cacophony of noise that explodes in the middle ...