In this chapter I present a self-reflection about my identity as an artist, focusing essentially on two points: personal identity, which certainly explains some of the choices in the composition process, and part of my work as an artist, giving a special focus to the pieces written during this project and the consequent use of elements of the traditional culture of Braga in my pieces. For this, throughout the text I react to the themes presented above, anchoring myself in these concepts and the information presented in order to make a personal reading. I will talk about identity(s), culture, tradition, among others. In my opinion, the role of an artist is never just to create a work of art, but to be active in society, thinking about it and trying to transmit his vision through his works. Therefore, I think it is also useful and interesting to present my point of view regarding Portugal and Europe. Logically, this point of view is not that of a sociologist or anthropologist, but of an artist who is aware - and seeks to sharpen awareness - of the identity and ideological visions of both Portugal and Europe. The main objective of this project has always been to demonstrate the compositional process, explaining how elements/aspects that come from some traditions of Portugal are used in the pieces I wrote.
This was the most difficult chapter to write. The exercise of writing down my ideas, reflections and opinions, was always accompanied by a fear of falling into exaggeration or arriving at an inaccurate judgement, or at least one that is dissonant with the view of others.
As I consider that the role of an artist should not be limited only to the creation or interpretation of works, I think daily about my artistic function and, thanks to this search to strengthen a more academic perspective, I have developed a more conscious work, more aware of certain details in order to better expose my ideas. In recent years, by developing my research skills (especially parameters outside the musical field), I have sought to expand a more academic vision. It has been a long, slow and painful project, but beneficial for my artistic and personal growth.
My personal identity is inevitably marked by involuntary belonging to a series of collectives: I am Portuguese, European, a supporter of Sport Lisboa e Benfica, musician, composer, conductor, student. To reflect on these different identities it was necessary to distance myself from them. Perhaps because of this, it is important to present a self-analysis, where certainly some themes will be developed in the future.
I can recall a conversation with some of my housemates about my club - Sport Lisboa e Benfica - and saying that 'we were one of the greatest teams in Europe'. What followed was a question that has been massacring me in recent years: ‘We? Who? But were you playing there back then?’ This conversation has remained quite imprinted in my memory. The image about myself, being part of a bigger group - be it a 'national we' or in a bigger project like the European one, or even a 'club we' - was questioned in my years in Antwerp. The truth is that I had never thought about the issues that an 'individual being' might have in relation to that integration into a group.
Although "identity" comprises several layers, and that each of us, human beings, will have various identities (depending on the situation we are in - religion, professional, as a sports fan, in the family, in different groups of friends, a. o.), my focus in this research is cultural identity issues. It is in this context that "identity can become a marker of people's abiding in such a singular community, where the community defines an abode marking people's ways of belonging within the structured mobilities of contemporary life"[1]. As Moura points out, we identify with some (social or cultural) groups by their set of values and goods, material and immaterial. Those are the elements that "allow us to recognize ourselves as belonging to a nationality and at the same time to a set of civilizations"[2].
On a personal level, one knows that our (individual) identity differs from person to person. Identity is created from the various events that one experiences throughout his or her life, thus nourishing himself or herself with memories and different episodes. We build this idea by identifying ourselves with the stories as being the same person in all the episodes. Thus, we build a feeling of continuity that corresponds to a "self" that is only known by each of us individually.
There is a steady element in the concept of identity, which remains unchanged over time and history. Starting from a ‘cultural identity’, it can be considered that there is also a whole part: history, established practices, traditions, and culture. These aspects are both common and shared among individuals, having different identities themselves, in constant transformation and change[3]. Identity implies the discovery of history, language and culture, and at the same time, the use of these resources in order to transform and create oneself. Therefore, identity is based on tradition, but also on its 're-creation': not as a return to the roots, but as understanding and acknowledging them.
This network of identity aspects, creating a whole identity of an individual, is also claimed by A. Malouf: “The identity of a person is not a juxtaposition of autonomous aspects; it is not a ‘patchwork’, it is a drawing on a tight skin. If you touch one aspect, it is the whole person that vibrates”[4]. Malouf also presents two directionalities of our multiple-identity. The first, horizontal, is defined by our daily life choices; the second is established by "our heritage, including notions such as race, nation, and religion" and is at the core of most conflicts[5].
In essence, our identity can be seen as history (or a story) that we "build and tell about ourselves", thus defining "who we are for ourselves and for others"[6]. The creation of identity is thus illusory, invented and (re)constructed subsequently.
In the arts, although individual identity has always been something sought after by creators, it has gained high importance in recent years. "We live in a world that values individuality"[7], notes Lima. Individuality, or the set of individual qualities, when linked to the creative process, boils down to a(n individual) search for an identity. In the arts, this search is even more valued. Our personal or professional experiences make us unique, and that must be part of the artwork created by us.
The purpose of defining and understanding the concept of "identity" comes precisely due to this relevance in the arts and for me as an artist. This question arises in order to understand and enhance elements of Portuguese (traditional) cultural identity in my works. As G. Cools states, the question of - cultural, gender, or even religious - identity has been present throughout the last centuries in the creation of works of art. In the creation of contemporary works of art, it continues to be “a major source for many creative practices”[8].
I believe that the search for (my) identity has three reasons. First, because it is actually part of my way of being. Reflecting about myself, my choices, my faults and my qualities, what I can improve and develop as a human being and as an artist. I jokingly tell some friends and family members that I bring with me an inheritance from the Judaeo-Christian culture. I had a Christian education, following and participating for many years in catechesis and Catholic youth groups, together with the education that my parents and my family gave me. I learned, above all, the importance of doing good for the good. This influence is, in my opinion, perceptible in the music that I write. Although I am not a believer, I don't believe in a God, I believe in the power of religions as a way to get the best out of human beings. My music represents (or at least intends to represent) my religious (or maybe spiritual) vision of life and of what I feel. Music, from a spiritual point of view, is also a form of sharing. Whether in a live performance, or through recordings. It is, at the same time, a search for the "inner self", for my well-being and for the well-being of those around me.
The second reason is the search for personal and professional development. I try to use this awareness also because of my professional goals. In recent years I have tried to understand what I can do differently and better than what I have been doing. In my view, and succinctly, I can offer in my pieces my personal identity, not only through my own musical language, but by looking for elements that can better represent me.
Lastly, my coming to Belgium in 2012 led me to look at Portuguese culture in a different way. My decision to come to Antwerp to study was essentially due to the fact that I thought this move could help me grow as an artist, due to the experience of studying with composers like Wim Henderickx and Luc Van Hove with an admirable artistic career, studying in an international school like the Koninklijk Conservatorium Antwerpen, getting to know other cultures, other people and being integrated into a social environment that values art and culture. In personal terms it was a very complicated decision, and it took months for me to feel good about myself. I left family, friends and work opportunities in Portugal. As time went by, I stopped feeling lonely, away from those who had stayed in Portugal, creating in myself a physical space between Braga and Antwerp, where I feel good. Due to the fact that I was always between these two cultures, I felt like a foreigner both in Belgium and in Portugal. The fact of having left Portugal and of never having felt totally integrated in the two societies between which I wander, having to deal with the condition of "displaced" (even if by my own will), motivated me to re-invent myself and to deal with some identity issues that I certainly wouldn't have if I had never left Portugal[9].
Portuguese
estimated read time: 5 minutes
The collective identity of a nation consists of a perception of continuity between the past and the present, the result of history and the interpretations applied to it, as well as of its rituals. The calendar also affects the way we behave as a nation, leading us to repeat certain patterns of social behaviour more or less consciously. It is obvious that the collective memories and 'mental geographies' of Portugal are changing and adapting to the current condition of the country with the changes in society and the strategy of Portuguese domestic and foreign policy.
By presenting the texts "Portugal, national identity" and "Elements of traditional music from Minho" my idea was to have a starting point to talk about myself as an artist and composer, and to understand how Portuguese culture, its elements and characteristics are present in my music. My previous perception about the state of Portugal, its history and cultural and intellectual development of the country was influenced by the information I got at school, family and friends. Certainly, the research developed during this project has broadened my perception about the direction Portugal has been going, the emergence and treatment of musical elements present in the traditions over decades, and the influence these aspects have in my music.
Here I quote the four complexes presented by Real (four anthropological and cultural complexes: Exemplary Origin, Superior Nation, Inferior Nation and Cultural Cannibalism). For me, my work, my music, also reacts to these complexes, in an intentional or involuntary way. Throughout my journey as a student until I was 18, I learned in History and Portuguese about many of the historical moments and artistic (mainly literary) outcomes of all these complexes over the centuries, and so these have influenced me throughout my growth and development. I don't know if this defines me as Portuguese (in reality I believe not), but they are certainly part of my artistic and critical thinking towards Portugal.
The notion of national superiority always appears in the myths linked to Portugal. Although I don't believe in destiny, i.e., I don't consider that any people or individual is predestined to something, I am aware that this vision, and the way history is presented to us while we are being formed, through the study of works by Padre António Vieira, Camões and Fernando Pessoa, sometimes leads us to dream of a Portugal that will be made and that Portugal and the Portuguese are almost mythological beings.
I realise that this type of project may give the idea of a nationalist quest, but nothing could be further from the truth. Especially if we look at the nationalist issue using Orwell's view that “A nationalist is one who thinks solely, or mainly, in terms of competitive prestige. He may be a positive or negative nationalist - that is, he may use his mental energy either in boosting or denigrating - but any rate his thoughts always turn on victory, defeats, triumphs, and humiliations”[10]. My aim has never been to demonstrate the national, political or musical superiority of Portugal. Never, either throughout this project, or throughout my (artistic) life have I tried to demonstrate the superiority of Portuguese culture. As a matter of fact, from the political point of view I am strongly against nationalist and regionalist ideologies. The aim is to demonstrate the characteristics of Portuguese culture, some exclusive to Portugal, with national developments, others with links to other countries and cultures. The presentation of these elements aims to offer a better perception about the music I write and my identity.
My fear of being seen as a nationalist stems from the negative sense the word can have. “Nations and national identities are potential obstacles to international cooperation and need to be gradually superseded by a new layer of transnational rules and organizations”, argues Fukuyama[11]. I agree with this point of view, especially when one only looks, selfishly, at one's own navel. Of course, protectionism in nationalism is only one side of it. Carlos Moedas argues that an important division in political thought lies in the difference between 'protectionists' and 'internationalists'. The former "dream of a past that never existed", while internationalists "dream of a future that never comes"[12].
My project originates exactly from a position contrary to the enclosure of a culture in itself. I try to demonstrate the differences that still exist in national cultures, using them to create new pieces that express an identity of their own. On the other hand, and because I consider healthy, interesting and important to maintain the diversity of cultural elements, I develop this project, also, with the intention of demonstrating the cultural diversity present in Portugal, focusing, mainly, on the elements from Minho.
It is perhaps part of the Portuguese identity to 'leave the motherland' and, although the Portuguese have, as António Vieira wrote, 'little land to be born in', they have ' a whole world to die in'. This identity, was given - or transmitted - through the myths and stories of history. As Portuguese, we were educated, both by philosophy and by the social and economic problems that we will have to live through the world, being part of our 'Portuguese soul' the emigration and the search for new and better opportunities.
From my perspective - and taking into account how members of my family saw life in the past -, it is "Portuguese" to hope for a better world ('future'), because the present was not always good. As I said a few years ago (I think it was in 2009 or 2010) to a professor at ESMAE, from the portraits that my relatives always gave me, the crisis that was coming would be nothing more than the continuation of the way they lived over the years: struggling for better days, with hope and a lot of work to live in a more comfortable way.
Real also presents an "existential model", a pattern of the life and work of "almost all Portuguese intellectuals" and which he summarises in three paradigmatic moments[13]. The first moment is a "phase of approximation, of commitment and of voluntary adaptation to or attempt to transform the general destiny of Portugal". The second, which differs from author to author, leads the Portuguese intellectual at a certain moment in his life to a "profound disenchantment with the conjunctural state of the country", which leads him to two options: first, to give up transforming the Portuguese cultural panorama, leading the authors into (physical or psychological) exile, and to concentrate "on his individual aesthetic or philosophical work"; or to create an alternative work to the dominant social and political vision, reiterating his commitment to transform Portugal. The last moment, at the end of the author's life or after his death, his work is recovered by national institutions, valuing it as "one of the most salient vectors of Portuguese culture, so sanctified by the new school generations as before it had been abhorred and despised by the previous ones". Being still developing my artistic career - and still not being able to consider the third moment presented by Real-, since I started to compose (with the hope of my work being relevant to my country), I am afraid that this is the end of my artistic career. I am not exiled, I remain close to Portugal and I try to be included in the artistic life of the country and I still have the will and the hope that there will be a cultural development, but the fear of falling in the same "destiny" outlined by other Portuguese creators and intellectuals accompanies me.
European
estimated read time: 13 minutes
In my opinion, an artist should, through his art, reflect and represent his time and ideals. I consider it very important that an artist understands - or at least tries to understand - the society in which he or she lives, and, in my case, I also see this as an aim. That's why I consider it essential to have concrete ideas, identifying problems and looking for solutions, also in society. I do not believe that artistic work alone will change anything, but it can be a vehicle that initiates different movements that lead to improvements. My idea of Europe (and its identity) is presented 'only' because of who I am. I am not a jurist, law maker, politician... I am an artist. An artist who thinks about Europe and who has his reading of the European identity. Yet, an artist who does not find it easy to describe his opinion, nor comfortable to promote it (his opinion) and who therefore wants to do it through art.
The European identity is based on the history and collective memory of the peoples that are part of it, influenced by existential, affective and utopian connotations, shared from a particular dynamic, of affirmation and survival. Like any identity, individual or collective, the European identity is the result of a long and ongoing process, built on a legacy of heritage elements (tangible and intangible) and also by a set of values[14].
Conceivably, the European identity is the result of a fusion of Greco-Roman and biblical-Christian cultures, allowing a purely geographical concept to result in an ethical concept "that still persists today in the idea that Europe represents a higher stage resulting from the convergence of classical and Christian culture”[15]. Other major influences on this identity construction are the myths and legends transmitted over time, by the different languages and traditions, by the imaginary, both erudite and popular, and by the classical motifs[16].
The European cultural heritage, tangible or intangible, also plays an irreplaceable role for national and European identity. Cultural heritage, i.e. "the combination of elements which enable a given group to recognise itself as the bearer of its own identity and to communicate over time, either within that group or, by marking a difference, beyond it”[17], comprises "among many other realities in permanent interaction, works of art, monuments, religious and secular dimensions literary, scenic and musical testimonies, architectural and artistic values, aesthetic standards, erudite and popular matrixes, ideas, social values, marks and traces of past generations and their struggle for emancipation and a better life, as well as a potential of their actualisation in living meanings, which maintain or recover successive symbolic charges and fullness of meaning"[18]. This allows us to recognise ourselves as part of a nationality and of a civilisational ensemble.
‘Culture’ has different implications, allowing the integration of a person in a certain social, political, and economic system, being a central role in society by transmitting knowledge about accepted behaviours and ways of being in a certain society and giving a meaning in that social group belonging[19]. In addition, it is also through culture that values are transmitted to us. Culture thus functions as a provider of meaning, both in a formal sense and in a deeply existential sense.
Culture plays an important role in European cohesion. As we saw earlier, 'culture' is constantly changing, developing and altering over time. Not only can 'culture' be seen as the basis of a society, or a way of living together, but it is also a collective form of self-knowledge, involving a continuous process of evaluating what is, or is not, necessary or important.
Culture shapes human beings by developing our way of living together, but societies also transform culture through repetition, adaptation, updating, interpretation and critique, creating a continuous development in it[20].
European identity is also developed from individual artists who have created works on which societies (national or European as a whole) have been founded. These artists (e.g. Dante, Petrarch, Ronsard, Camões, Shakespeare and Racine), although far apart in time, were influenced by the great classical Greek and Latin models[21].
Although the vast majority of citizens do not experience, "either affectively or intellectually, a sense of belonging to Europe”[22], the idea of a Europe with a joint culture is a long process that began after the Second World War. This process, initiated by "intellectual and political sectors", was guided by "ethical and humanist values, historical, civilisational and cultural perceptions, philosophical and political will, obeying the imperative to ensure the existence of conditions for peace between nations and the affirmation of personalism and of new social models outside totalitarian impulses"[23].
Perhaps for this reason, European identity seems to be an "elite conception" and is therefore a reality that is difficult to perceive, which generates some "misunderstandings in the overall so-called 'cultural' policies and framework programmes for culture that the European Union has adopted"[24].
In my opinion, it would be important for European policy makers to (re)think about how this culture can be nurtured, keeping it alive, as Pascal Gielen states in the book “No Culture, No Europe: On the Foundation of Politics”, “without a solid cultural policy, European politics will eventually dig its own grave”[25].
The dynamics of invention and reflexivity towards the self also seem to be European identity principles[26]. These will not be uniquely European characteristics, but they play a crucial role in the development of the project. In the words of J. Kristeva, "there is an identity, mine, ours, but it is infinitely buildable and de-constructible"[27]. To the question "Who am I?", the best answer, European, is evidently not certainty, but love for the question mark. After having been carried away by the "dogmas of identity that led to the crimes we know, a European we is now emerging"[28]. According to Graça Moura, one of the most important elements of the European identity is the tendency for "Europe to reflect on itself"[29], as "Europe is the civilizational unit with a wide geographic perimeter that for the longest time and most profoundly questions itself, questioning not only its action but also its most relevant characteristics, that is, its own identity"[30]. This way of being, of reflection and, in some way, of introspection, is very present in art and is perhaps one of the reasons that lead me to write a text like this one. The continuous development, research and learning in action, together with the critical correction and conservation that sometimes leads to systemic changes and revolutions is the basis of the value system and the secret of progress in Europe. The contact with other cultures, close geographically, and the European expansion itself, with all the conflicts that resulted from it, were fundamental for the existence in Europe and in Europeans of this need for a process of questioning about the past, the present and the future. The tolerance that exists in European culture is thus "the zero degree of questioning", which leads us to invite the other and ourselves to question, instigating "the culture of questioning and dialogue to meetings that problematise all participants"[31]. This way of "living together" guides us towards a plural identity where multilingualism and multiculturalism are key elements[32].
In order to achieve a European cultural identity (or in order to understand it), it is necessary to recognise "a certain vision of the world that ends up being common from perspectives that do not necessarily coincide in all points", and, therefore, to recognise the existing differences, respecting them and providing for cooperation mechanisms[33].
This diversity, for example in customs, traditions, languages and gastronomy, which can make it difficult to define a European identity, is in fact a core point of such an identity. The existing plurality of languages is the basis of cultural diversity[34] and therefore the basis of multiple specific collective identities and different world views. This diversity of languages should be seen as an inexhaustible wealth and not as a "handicap of a purely theoretical construction”[35].
The perception of difference(s) and the recognition of the permanent contact with different cultures and traditions and the (re)knowledge of the Other are crucial for living together in this project, without falling into the trap of closed nationalism. It is this awareness of cultures that are different in some aspects that allows Europeans to coexist peacefully.
The European identity can even be based on the way the different identities that constitute it (regional, national, religious and cultural) are managed and on development in a permanent balance between unity and diversity[36], the universal and the particular, the general and the unique, the common and the individual[37]. This cultural pluralism, based on a responsibility to respect the individual and leading to the spread of the philosophy of human rights is, according to Konrád, Europe’s main innovation[38].
There are different perspectives to look at "multiculturalism"[39]. If we take a historical viewpoint, we may fall into a conservative position. If we look at the ethnic perspective, all Western societies can be considered "multicultural". If we look at the geographical space, this can call into question the whole vision of contemporary mobility. Europe, in my opinion, is multicultural because of these three visions together. Europe is a wide geographical space with an exchange of cultural elements and it is this openness to dialogue and exchange of elements that makes Europe what it is today.
This cultural diversity should, in my view, continue to exist. It would, in my opinion, be a mistake to strive for the whole continent to be the same. Despite the many differences between the cultures (or, if you like, the way of being in society, visions and traditions) of the various member states, I believe that what unites us is much stronger. And it is strengthened by the diversity (and multiculturalism) that exists. The similarity is present not only in the monetary currency we use, but also in the tolerance, defence of democracy and human rights, fight for freedom(s) and peace. And this is why it is so dangerous to fall into immediate solutions that will cause each member state to be closed in on itself. Alone. Together, as European Union, we will be better prepared to respond to each of the existing problems.
It is necessary that the "local, national and supranational articulate without excluding each other", allowing the different identities to converge in search of a memory enriched by what is proper and common[40].
In a perhaps utopian vision, I would say that Europe should be a land of solidarity, but this will only work if there is a notion of European unity. Especially in recent years, fears of possible European fragmentation have been felt in Europe, the result of a "misunderstanding of memory, political history and society” [41]. This can result from a fear of what is different, of the other, in a national (or regional) egoism, to a disregard of the potentialities of society and a devaluation of memory and heritage. The only way of not fulfilling the European project in its entirety, of losing everything that has been gradually achieved, is to let this idea be lost (even if it sometimes seems vague to a member of the people) and each country think only for itself and of itself.
The times we live in today, with fears of European fragmentation for some years now, make a work like this even more important, in my opinion.
The dialogue-based role of Europe, an objective pursued after the Second World War and which resulted in the principle of the European Union[42], was at the origin of the transformation from a constant state of war to the present moment of internal peace, and has sustained the longest period of development and prosperity ever experienced here. "Europe" today, can mean a continent, an idea or a culture[43]. Its elements (historical, cultural, psychological and emotional) offer a conformity to the ideals present in the project and are a set of assets that influence peace.
European unity is still a work in progress, starting from the use of the common currency and the Schengen agreement by many of the Union's Member States, without forgetting the various nationalities present, their traditions and the relations between each of the members with their neighbours (whether they are members of the Union or outside the project)[44].
Europe as a mobile space should be part of our consciousness as citizens of this Union (and, of course, of this geographical area), and its mobility should be defended, supported and seen as a point of interest. This is another very important feature of European culture, not only in terms of free movement, but in opening up to other (financial and labour) markets, opportunities for study and constant exchanges of information.
The dynamics of travelling in Europe, the mobility within the Schengen area with all the flux we have seen in recent years, facilitates the creation of a pluri-ethnic or multicultural European social space. Also the Erasmus Programme (and Erasmus+), the main EU programme for education and teaching, aiming at "increasing skills and employability", have brought a dynamic and exchange of lessons and experiences[45]. European mobility allowed me to leave Portugal in 2012 to study in Belgium. In other times, and with other conditions, this would never have happened.
The European project must, in my view, be strengthened whenever it encounters crises - economic, social and cultural - such as those that have appeared in the last decade (financial crisis, terrorist attacks and rise of populism). In my opinion, the European Union as a project is a beginning of a good utopia. The coordination of efforts between all the countries that are part of it has brought us, in my opinion, very positive changes. One of the most important has been the use of dialogue and negotiation, which has created an EU without internal (warlike) wars. This construction has been carried out step by step, creating bases that have been covered, so that they can support the growth of a European Union strengthened in itself and in the world, consolidating the political, economic and social space.
And if it is true that sometimes I think we are getting closer and closer to making the European utopia a reality, every now and then the real reality - not the one we hope for, but the one that actually happens - shows us that we are still a long way from reaching the point where countries protect each other, act together and look to the future as one.
The European project should be seen as a 'long run', a slow, thought-out, safe development. A search for the welfare of all, and hopefully a slow but joint growth. A joint and well-planned vision is therefore needed, and patience so that the project can develop and, who knows, complete itself.
The complexity of the European Union means that it must be built on several layers. It is true that the European institutions carry great weight, but it will be necessary that citizens feel included and regional entities also engage in dialogue. Cooperation between these entities will strengthen the Union, creating the social and geographical cohesion necessary for everything to function properly. Regarding ordinary citizens, it is important that they feel that the EU is not just a set of buildings in Brussels or Strasbourg, but part of a joint society, with solidarity, with an ideal of the future.
In the political context, the role of the President of the European Council and the President of the European Parliament seem to have little relevance for the populations of the nations that are part of the EU. Perhaps the only figure who still has a symbolic capital, but still with little dynamic and effectiveness for the populations, is the President of the European Commission[46]. The "ordinary" European is, in general, distanced from the decisions taken by the bodies of the European Union, either through their own will, lack of collective vision or lack of information. For example, in the last European elections in 2019, Portugal had an abstention rate of 69.3%[47], which demonstrates, among other things, the remoteness of the population's decision making when it comes to European political decisions. But the feeling of belonging to a (apparently) not very united Europe like ours is also due to the fact that there is no "hope" (on the part of Europeans, more precisely the people) in the European project. As long as there is "us" vs "them" it will always be like this. Europe's path should be that of justice between countries and the creation of a European culture, of group identity, through unifying laws and the demonstration of a positive currency, as well as the demonstration of unity during crises. When all is well, it is easy to believe in projects. For this project to be robust, it is necessary to show unity in the most complicated moments.
It is true that not everything in Europe is positive and there is much room for improvement. The financial inequality between the populations of each country and between the various countries, the combat against corruption and terrorism, the threat of nationalist ideas. In any case, the main problems for the near future in this Union will be migratory pressure, globalisation (the way we look at it), climate change, demography and youth unemployment. We therefore need a cohesive, balanced EU that offers solidarity to its citizens. The European Union must be based on three political projects: the economic, political and cultural project[48].
We must bear in mind that one of the main threats to this European project (apart from the known problems of economic and social crises) is the manipulation of the truth and the irresponsibility (or incompetence) of part of the political class, which has a populist and selfish vision of the "common good", using it for their personal interests. In my opinion the fears that have arrived with Brexit and the questions raised almost daily thanks to the growth of a nationalist vision in each country, make us fear that the EU is not strengthened enough to protect itself. I think that Europe, united, is stronger than the image conveyed.
Europe must be an ideal. An ideal of peace, equality, freedom[49], with a strong ecological vision, with confidence in scientific progress. Fair. That is why the effort to move forward, to develop an increasingly fair and egalitarian Europe (in terms of living conditions, not customs), has to be daily. And since nothing that has been achieved in the last six decades can be taken for granted, the effort not to go backwards will also have to exist, by thinking and rethinking European steps and policies.
In Between
estimated read time: 2 minutes
Sibony, as presented here, defines identity as “a ‘movement in-between’, ‘an open process’ in which one has to integrate the ‘stranger’ and ‘the event of otherness as well as oneself’”[50]. Sibony also presents the distinction between identity ‘in-between’ and the concept of ‘difference’, the latter being “a static division, marked by a borderline and symbolized by a trait”, a “simplistic polarity between the sexes, between religions and cultures, between life and death, between have and have-nots, between good and bad” [51]. This concept of "in-between", presented by Sibony, is associated with the notion of “a shared but unstable ‘origin’” [52]. Our origins are points of departure shared with others and are therefore not fixed points in time or space. Thus, our identity is created by the journey we undertake, always influenced by the world(s) around us, like a “pilgrim” (Bauman) or “wayfarer” (Ingold): someone who is continuously and continuously moving, gathering his or her knowledge throughout the journey[53].
This sensation of being nomadic, “being rootless of living between worlds” is one of the characteristics of the (post) modern World[54]. To be honest, I don't consider myself rootless, but part of several different cultures, certainly thanks to the ease of travelling and being connected at the same time with the different cultures in which I insert myself due to the current technologies. My own experience as a “migrating body”[55] grows with the daily living between the Portuguese culture and my journey and certainly has a lot of influence on the final result of this project.
This nomadic character and the relationship between two different cultures (despite some similarities) are very present in my work. The nomadic character I refer to includes the fact that, at this moment, I don't really know where my home is. Maybe this feeling is connected to the fact that "once you have gone through the experience of uprooting yourself, you will never fully settle again”[56]. From an emotional point of view, home will be where me and my family are. But if we have in mind the artistic or cultural character, I'm not sure where I stand. As I will present later, traditional Portuguese elements are very present in my music, but my artistic and academic life is much more linked to a vast "western" (in contrast to eastern) or European context than exactly Portuguese.
Perhaps this transformation, and this search to belong to two different cultures, made me understand "being European" and, perhaps more than understanding, made me want to be part of that way of being, coming from one country, living in another, but trying to find common points (or bridges) to accept myself and to feel accepted.
In this regard, I am also the result of a certain nomadism existing in European culture: "being a nomadic European subject means to be in transit between different identity formations, but, at the same time, being sufficiently anchored to a historical position to accept responsibility for it”[57]. I belong to a generation that was born after the fall of the Berlin wall, I grew up in a Portugal already part of the European Union, with the existence of a Schengen area and I have few memories of my life before the use of the single currency (euro). Therefore, I cannot see myself 'only' as Portuguese, but as part of a globalized and cooperative Europe, where the distance seems smaller due to all the (digital) tools we can use, as well as all the existing means of communication and transport.
Globalisation
estimated read time: 4 minutes
The term globalisation, “a set of social processes that are thought to transform our present social condition into a condition of globality”, suggests “a kind of dynamism that is best captured by the notion of ‘development’ or ‘unfolding of events’ according to discernible patterns”[58].
Globalisation is a set of several dimensions of social processes, originated by worldwide social exchanges that "create, multiply, extend and intensify interdependencies”[59]. This process, which is not uniform and results in different influences on the transformation of social and cultural structures, also leads to societies having a "growing awareness of ever deeper connections between the local and the distant” [60].
‘Globalization’ includes not only the acceleration of social interactions but also the understanding and intensified awareness of the world as a whole, which comes from the "ever diminishing importance of geographical borders and distances”[61]. The experiences of global interdependence, daily and gradually change people's individual and collective identity, strongly influencing their way of acting in the world[62]. In this way, globalisation "involves the creation of new social networks and activities that increasingly transcend traditional political, economic, cultural and geographical boundaries, and the multiplication of those that already exist”[63].
The technological developments that have occurred in recent decades, have helped to create a particular form of globalisation[64]. Thus, globalization is also largely based on the notion that the amount and speed of movement of goods, capital, and people - not only in their social role as “labour” but also as tourists, scientists and intellectuals working together across borders and oceans, artists, and in a variety of other roles - is now so great that it has completely changed the world. Moreover, this transition can be seen in a whole new set of institutions or the reform of existing institutions to better serve a specific purpose[65].
A result of globalisation, cultural homogenisation can be seen in modern architecture, clothing, fast food, popular music, hotels, among many other things. They are the result of a worldview that seeks neutrality, where “Everybody is basically the same”[66]. This desire to "neutralize difference" is present in the Western world, arising from a fear of difference that intersects with the economy of global consumer culture.
Globalisation can have both positive and negative aspects[67]. For some, the process of globalisation is based on mutual respect and bringing different societies together for peaceful purposes, based on sharing and a certain degree of fusion of cultures. For others, globalisation is a nullification of traditional and local cultures, losing the unique elements of each society.
Globalism exists in the smallest things, from the fact that I can use the computer on which I am writing this text, to the way I disseminate my work or collaborate with others, and also in the options we have in our daily lives (such as, for example, going out to dinner in an Asian restaurant or another American food chain, watching English football or even the ease with which I can order a book from another country). These may not be globalisation per se but they are undoubtedly the result of the development of a global world.
It has been this global exchange of lifestyles, of ideas, of "cultures", if you will, that has also allowed a development of the way of living and, consequently, of the works of art (from music to literature, passing through the visual arts, inspiring us (the creators) in various ways).
As information technologies have developed over the last 20 years, they have increased in importance, allowing, among other things, communication between geographically distant individuals. Social networks, and the ease of obtaining information at the click of a mouse, can expand knowledge.
It allowed me, despite being in Belgium, to follow news in a faster and more accessible way from my family, friends and to be aware of events in Braga. One such example was following the “Queima do Home”. The first time I watched this event was in 2016, through facebook, while I was at my home in Antwerp developing ideas for the piece "home(m)", where I use elements of this Braga tradition. This way of being close, despite being so far away (approximately 1800 km away), allowed me to have a different view of the event - which I would only attend in loco the year afterwards.
I am very influenced by the world at the moment I write a piece and so each piece has a final result depending, also, on outside factors. Living in Belgium, I am still aware of what is happening in Portugal and I try to be aware of what is happening culturally in other countries like Italy, Germany, England or the United States. In other words, my world, the world in which I live every day, is influenced by all these issues that are happening in different geographical locations. So, even though I live in Belgium, a certain political event in Portugal or in France (or somewhere else), a sporting event (another of my main focuses on a daily basis), or even a terrorist attack (for example during the composition of “and they still seek the traces of blood”), end up having more influence than my daily life in Antwerp. And this is perhaps due to globalisation, the fact that I can be in several places “at the same time”.
Through my work (including this project), I represent a search for the existing cultural difference. This work is therefore also a reaction to the existing globalisation and the expansion of global cultural flows, not in disagreement with them, but in order to demonstrate different elements present in the culture of the city where I was born and grew up until I was 18 - and to which I will always be connected.
My identity as an artist
estimated read time: 10 minutes
Ever since I started composing with the aim of becoming my job (i.e. not as a hobby), different people around me - family, friends or acquaintances - have asked me why I write music. I write music for different reasons. For me, composing is a mental, intellectual exercise of search for an identity (not only musical), which aims at sharing with others (the interpreters, the audience). Thus, and although the ‘outside’ influences what I write - the ‘outside’ can be the news, the speed of life, the landscapes, the people I come across - my compositional process is essentially an inner search.
First, I write to express myself, to share experiences and the world(s) I create. Some pieces have a more factual basis, while others start from a purely speculative principle (such as “where the shadows are so deep” (for ensemble, 2019) and “i [w]ill meet you by the sea” (for solo trumpet, 2018)), but they always represent my feelings, expectations and fears. But this sharing is only meaningful to me if there is an audience (in rooms or online) to share it with. The pieces I write are not personal diaries. In my pieces, I try to present a personal, inner vision of the world I observe, interpreting it and creating an artistic artefact that represents my musical identity but at the same time serves the listeners or viewers to find themselves in the music they listen to. My music also represents my constant state of mind, between Braga and Antwerp. Maybe that is also why I search in traditional elements my identity as a composer and artist (root to route).
Secondly, I pursue the goal of bringing ("classical") music to more people. I believe that anyone, if given the necessary support and guidance, can listen to, understand and appreciate classical music. Since the early days when I started to compose, I have tried to explain, to the people around me, the music I make and listen to. I confess that I didn't always achieve the goal of making them understand contemporary music, but I am happy to think that my attempt to show them something "new" and "different" (from their perspective) resulted in a greater openness to other kinds of sounds. I remember that some of these people, who had never had a musical education, later talked about albums of music they discovered in search of different sonorities.
And it is on those listeners that I think - those who for whatever reason did not have the opportunity to learn or appreciate "art music" - when, in some works created for amateur musicians, like, for example, "Benedictus" and "braga: à [b]olta do s. joão" I use some elements that might be more peculiar in the works together with others that make the work more accessible. In "Benedictus", I looked, among other things, for more dissonant intervals - for instance, the final note does not resolve - and in "braga: à [b]olta do s. joão", besides the dissonances used, I looked for different approaches throughout the piece - from the use of an object that all the interpreters knew from St. John's festival (the hammer), to the use of the "banda" as a choral group.
Another of my reasons for composing is the search for development as a human being and as an artist. Artistic development also encompasses a search for progress in classical music. Nothing I create is totally new, and I seek information from different artists and composers and hope that my work can influence other colleagues in the future. I like to look at what exists and develop it in other ways. For example, when I discover a technique for any instrument, I try to develop it, creating a piece in which that particular technique is fundamental and essential in the resulting sound of that piece, without it being used only as a sound “ornament”. This constant challenge of development (either personal or in art) has a great weight in my compositional process.
My music is the result of my life’s path: of my roots, of my experience and of continuous learning, with all the influences that surround me. The changes I have suffered over the last ten years, the scars that are part of my body[68], are the result of all the road (“route”) I travel. These psychological “scars” (being far away, fear, death and loss, and paying homage to those around me), are also constantly represented in my music. Thus, it was essential for me that this internal research was part of this project, so that I could make my choices more conscious and also transmit to the reader my vision and reading of what I have been developing.
Finally, I write music to pay homage. In the last few years, and much thanks to this project where I also tried to understand my identity as a composer, I have realised that most of the works I write are homages to someone and a reaction to the memory. As Sobral says in the book “Portugal, Portugueses: a Identidade Nacional”, memory is not “a simple restitution of the past in the present, but a reconstruction of the former from the present”[69]. And it is with that memory that I consciously work. My work thus results in a tribute to my memories (which include my experiences and traditions, as well as those of my ancestors).
The memory of moments or stories, which help us in creating our identity and that of others around us, is done selectively. We tell these stories over and over again to demonstrate what we are and to explain what we are to others. The act of remembering is always built, deconstructed and transformed, as our memory is subjective[70]. Sharing memories, a collaborative process, is also an essential part of creating an identity. When one seeks to remember something as a group, these memories are created by each of the participants, thus adding a common narrative to the group members, sometimes slightly modifying the initial individual memory. As explained by Cools, “already in the moment of experiencing through the senses, the memory takes apart factual experience and reassembles it by stressing certain parts and forgetting others, by reordering them according to a logic that seems appropriate and makes sense to the self that remembers” [71].
In my pieces, I try to represent some of my “autobiographical memories” but also aspects of “historical memory”. Perhaps I use these memories and homages because I am afraid of losing something, or of forgetting and because I think that these moments demonstrate my growth (or development) over time.
Autobiographical memory is the recall of experiences and events that we have personally had in the past[72]. Autobiographical memory tends to fade over time unless it is periodically reinforced through interactions with people with whom one has previously shared experiences[73]. If there is a long period of time during which we have had no contact with a specific set of once significant others, the memory of them tends to fade. In such cases, given the long intervals of time, the memory may be completely lost unless it is brought to awareness again through contact with associations almost otherwise forgotten.
Each stage of our lives is preserved in our memories, which are continuously recreated. Through these memories, as through continuous relations, a sense of our identity is maintained[74]. However, because these memories are repetitions, they lose the form and appearance they had before.
In relation to historical memory, the person does not remember the events directly and is stimulated indirectly through commemorative and festive occasions or through reading or hearing about the event. Here, the past is stored and interpreted by social institutions[75].
Collective memory is a socially constructed notion, existing in each group and institution of a society (social classes, families, associations, corporations, armies and unions). These collective memories have been constructed over time by the members of these groups or institutions, all have distinct memories that their members have constructed, often over long periods of time. Halbwachs claims that every collective memory “requires the support of a group delimited in space and time”[76].
Personal identity is nourished by memories of different episodes in our lives. This also happens in music. We could say that composing is recreating our memory, using more or less conscious influences in the production of new music.
As I have stated previously, in each of my pieces I try to demonstrate - ‘simulate’ - part of my life experiences, my personal visions and emotions. I try to make the piece a ‘simulacrum’ of the ‘struggle’ I have when writing the piece, be that technical, emotional or other kinds of ‘struggle’. My homages are a result of this.
Initially, the use of traditional elements in my music was done in order to pay homage to my memory and my roots. For me, the search for an identity is not only linked to the present, to who I am, but also to my past (my roots and path). I try to pay tribute to the city where I was born, Braga, and its people, presenting the traditions of the city and developing the elements present in them.
In fact, I have been thinking of my work (my compositions) as a result of various homages: in “homenagem a um fugidio”, “nyMpheas”, “pranto”, among many others. These homages are, very often, connected to a “pain”, “loneliness” and my fears guide me in the writing of some pieces. Perhaps with the exception of the pieces where I use the influences of the Braga's St. John (“ensaio para um s. joão” and “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão”), as those start from the influence of a festive event, of colourful and joyful traditions, all my pieces have in themselves a visible presence of the elements firstly mentioned. Due to the influence of everything I have lived through in the last ten years - from all the fears of leaving Portugal, losing friends and family who passed away or merely left (some of them in an abrupt and painful way) my life, the death of my father (whose last months of life I followed, at his side, almost non-stop), the challenges related to the development of this project (like, for example, the great difficulty in getting a grant) and the nervousness resulting from feeling that the project did not develop at the speed I expected, or even the fact of feeling that my career is less developed than I would like - a dark, sad side is present in my music.
Therefore, I could not talk about my music without presenting some pieces I have been writing over the last few years, for less positive reasons. I know that these pieces have no connection with the project itself (regarding the treatment of elements present in social celebrations in Braga), but they represent a very important part of who I am, and of what I have been living in all these years. As I mentioned, all the events that happened in the last years forced me to a search for my identity (or finding out who I am). In a certain way, this search has worked almost as a therapy, which helps me to overcome the crises I have been feeling. Not only as a composer/artist but as a person. These were, for various reasons, as I explained in the introduction of this document, difficult years that had as the darkest point of my life the death of my father. The pieces “where the shadows are so deep”, “pranto”, “[a]void”, “was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?”, and “sei que estou só”, written after my father’s death, are the result of that search. It was a difficult search. It was, above all, a difficult search to show. It is not always easy to show the more personal, private side in music. And also, it is not always easy to create something so personal but that works well artistically.
Other examples of pieces where I pay homage and mourn (besides the ones mentioned above), are “sa·lo·mão, ou a inquieta procura do eu” and “pranto”. “sa·lo·mão, ou a inquieta procura do eu” was written during the summer of 2017, when there was already some fear about my father’s health condition. This piece was a commission, where I was asked to write a piece based on one of José Saramago's works. I chose “A viagem do elefante” (“The Elephant's Journey”), a book I had read the year it was published (2008), and which I reread in 2017 because I myself was on a journey in search of answers. In the piece, I took some sentences from the book and worked the text in order to present my own journey.
In “pranto” (2019), for example, the piece starts from a poem I wrote to ‘talk’ with my father. I think that in that piece for bass clarinet, voice and electronics, the pain I felt at that moment is well represented and, I confess, that the whole process of creating the piece, from the first ideas for the text and music, through the performance at Casa da Música and the recording of the piece for CD, was a huge help for the mourning to be (at least in part) done.
These are just examples. Each of the pieces had its own context.
List of works written in the past years NOT linked to this PhD:
- “diz tu por mim, silêncio”, for ensemble (2022)
- “gaivota”, for ensemble (2022)
- “Benedictus”, for choir and string orchestra (2019)
- “pranto”, for clarinet, voice and electronics (2019)
- “was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?”, for string orchestra (2019)
- “sei que estou só”, for choir (2019)
- “where the shadows are so deep”, for ensemble (2019)
- “[a]void”, for violin, saxophone and piano (2019)
- “Benedictus”, for choir and chamber orchestra (2018)
- “i [w]ill meet you by the sea”, for trumpet solo (2018)
- “quatro poeMas”, for clarinet solo (2017)
- “a geada matou os narcisos”, acousmatic piece (2017)
- “sa.lo.mão, ou a inquieta procura do eu”, for ensemble (2017)
Portuguese composer
estimated read time: 3 minutes
Fernando Lopes-Graça, Portuguese composer, musicologist and conductor, wrote in “A música Portuguesa e os seus problemas I” about the difficulty in establishing the essential criteria for the definition of ‘Portuguese music’. Lopes-Graça inquires if the criterion should be ethnic, aesthetic, ethnographic or nationalistic, or if this concept should seek to “include in a generic unity all and any musical manifestations, as soon as they are signed by Portuguese authors?”[77]. The author claims that the “fact that any work is written by a Portuguese author is not enough to categorize it as Portuguese, in the only, in the unmistakable sense that the expression carries - its superior sense, which is the truly valid, appropriate and absolute sense: the aesthetic sense” [78]. This would be an interesting vision if it wasn't practically impossible to achieve since Portuguese music doesn't have a common aesthetic. Nevertheless, we can look at the influence of Portugal and its sounds, as another step to aspire for Portuguese music. This project of mine was born, in a certain way, from this search, and so I have been trying to understand in what way Portuguese culture, society and the soundscapes that result from it, can be the stimulus for contemporary musical creation.
The important works throughout the history of music, despite representing a personal and individual vision (mainly since the 19th century), are the fruit of a more or less long process of collective elaboration, starting from technique and in the search to express the prevailing cultural ideas and, therefore, the state of society. These are the works that influence the national schools (in the sense of an existing sonority). Thus, the main national traditions in music have always departed mostly from a personality or an important group of composers who lived together in the same period. Each one of the great classical schools (German, French and Italian) has, as a result of this process, a defined aesthetic.
However, Portuguese music, perhaps because it did not have a defined aesthetic, always had the influence of the main European aesthetic currents, mainly the German, Italian or French schools. João Domingos Bontempo (1775-1842), Freitas Branco (1890-1955) and Lopes-Graça himself (1906-1994) are examples of this, having been influenced by German, French and Bartok's folkloristic aesthetics respectively.
With no clear aesthetic in Portuguese art music, it is hard work to define it that way. Thus, I believe that the only possibility to define "Portuguese music" is the nationality of its creators, not having an inherent aesthetic value to the definition. Anyway, with globalization and the consequent (very fast) exchange of information, it is increasingly difficult to make a clear regional (or national) division of artistic languages - and, in fact, perhaps it is not even relevant that this happens.
In fact, Portuguese music is still influenced by what is done in Germany, Austria, France, Italy and England. Young Portuguese composers like Nuno Costa, Igor C. Silva, Francisco Fontes or Pedro Lima, to name but a few, have been studying outside Portugal (Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, England, Germany and France) and are therefore influenced by different aesthetics. Thus, Portuguese works - or, to put it another way, works written by Portuguese authors - may not indicate any Portuguese value in them, as their composers are influenced by different cultures and aesthetics.
In any case, the “Portuguese music”, more than being written by Portuguese people or following a collective aesthetic (still inexistent, in my opinion), can represent Portuguese society and its sonority through its sound elements. With this I am not defending the sound representation of Portugal, of a “rural people” that only exists in certain parts of the country, but of society itself, with the normal influences that any society has.
This search for a Portuguese sonority can, in my opinion, be done in two ways. First, through the influence of soundscapes, whether current or in the memory of the composer. Secondly, through specific timbres, which can be integrated in those soundscapes, such as, for example, the characteristic timbre of some instruments.
My thoughts about an ‘art work’
estimated read time: 13 minutes
In this part of the text I do not seek to explain the meaning of "art", due to the complexity and subjectivity of its definition - which is changeable over time, individually and collectively -, but to demonstrate what I believe a work of art should contain or, in other words, what I look for in the art I create.
In my opinion, there are four factors that make an artistic object more interesting: 1) the planning and thought behind the work; 2) the composer's technical work; 3) representation of identity as composer and musician; 4) subjectivity for the listener.
First, an artwork must be thought out, planned. My vision of art may be related to the idea of art as something cultured, cultivated. And then you may ask me: if it is like that, why not use another word like, for instance, culture or some more specific aesthetic definition? Culture, as I wrote earlier, has a vast amount of definitions, so it seems short to me to use the word to define ‘simply’ something that is created with the aim that one can admire. On the other hand, the aesthetic question, in my opinion, does not arise. A pop/rock/punk/hip-hop album, etc, etc, can and should be considered art - in its ‘highest’ definition, linked to the point of view of technical, musical and artistic development.
I have some concern that this view of art sounds a bit old and 'romantic', but it is also a reaction to what I have observed since I started composing and thinking about these issues. In any European language there is certainly enough vocabulary to choose the right names for each object. So when I call something an 'artistic object', what I am looking for is a thoughtful object, with an intellectual basis and with the aim of presenting something technically well developed.
In my opinion, a work of art of excellence must have a process of searching and reflection during its creation process. The type of research of the composer during the compositional process can be ‘just’ that of discovering and developing new sonorities. It doesn't have to be a discovery essentially new for humanity (or for the arts), it can of course be ‘just’ a personal discovery for the artist. As a composer I try not to fall into a routine of using a recipe over and over again. It is important for me to look for something new, a constant development, adding to that a search for an artistic identity of my own, since I see the work of a composer as a process of overcoming and constant development. This identity can be achieved through new sounds, or new views on existing sounds, harmonic, rhythmic or melodic development, or even in orchestration.
The form of a piece is therefore very important to me. A work of art must be thought out, structured. The creation of a form does not have to happen at the beginning of the compositional process (which is what I tend to do), but there must be at the end of that creative process - that is, before a work is presented to musicians and public as a final result - a perception of the form and this must have a logic in itself. From masterclasses and talks I had with, for example, Clara Iannotta, Francesco Filidei and Nuno Costa, I realised that many composers (including these three) do not often start the compositional process thinking about the form. Most of the times, at least in the last years, they write in a continuous, linear way, and they go on revising the work until they are satisfied with the final result. Thus, and despite not planning the form in the beginning, they maintain a musical and artistic thought in relation to the form, starting from an organic writing and consolidating it throughout the composition.
The second factor that makes an artistic object more interesting is the development, through the technical work of the composer during the process of composition. It is undeniable that art is subjective, but there are always elements that can be analysed to understand the quality of a work.
Not always - or almost never - the first idea one has is the best. Not always the way one arrives at that idea, or the result of that idea, is the best. It is necessary to think a piece through, review it, work on the elements, the details, building a more solid and more interesting work. I give the example of the orchestration of an idea: for some decades now, the orchestration of an idea has progressively been more than just the choice of which instrument would play a certain note. There are many more choices to be made when choosing which instrument should play a note. Articulation techniques, different dynamics in different registers of the instrument, techniques where the "air" is used (wind instruments), different tensions (on strings).
Therefore, the most important aspect for me in the creation of a work of art is not the artistic inspiration (whatever it may be), but, on the other hand, the result of that inspiration and of the work of those who create, that is, the process of composition. I value very much the process of creation of a work of art (and even if we think of an improvisation, the process of creation exists - although it is presented in a more immediate way, i.e. there is no temporal distance between the creation and the presentation in public, but, certainly, there is a technical development used during the improvisation).
Thus, an artist must present in his work, also, his/her side of “craftsman” (in two senses). The difference between art and craft, besides the great difference between their agents - who in art are “professional artists from a mere speck of the population, whereas craftsmanship extends to all sorts of labors”[79] - seems to be that the “artist” focuses on the creation of unique or at least distinctive works, while the practice of craft is more anonymous, collective and continuous[80]. Nevertheless, Senett argues that we should be wary of this distinction, since originality is also a social label and has its origin in the Greek word poesis, which Plato, among others, used to designate “something where before there was nothing”[81]. Thus, “originality” is a marker of time and signals the sudden appearance of something where before there was nothing, and “because something suddenly comes into existence, it arouses in us emotions of wonder and awe”[82]. The term developed, leading to the connotation used in the Renaissance where the appearance of something “was connected to the art - the genius, if you will - of an individual” [83]. Despite this, we can assume that there is no art without “craft”, as an undeveloped idea of an art object is not art in itself[84].
According to Sennett, “the craftsmanship” is still present in everyday society, constituting “an enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to do a job well for its own sake” and exploring the dimensions of “skill, commitment, and judgment in a particular way”[85]. The "good craftsman" establishes a dialogue between "concrete practices and thinking" that develops into “sustaining habits, and these habits establish a rhythm between problem solving and problem finding” [86]. In my work I identify some characteristics of a “good craftsman” in the sense that I seek “the desire to do a job well for its own sake” [87]. First, following the point of view of autonomy, where “original artist may have had less autonomy, be more dependent on uncomprehending or willful power, and so be more vulnerable, than were the body of craftsmen”[88]. Second, through valorisation “on contingency and constraint”, but avoiding pursuing “a problem relentlessly to the point that it becomes perfectly self-contained”[89]. Third, by making the piece and the work dependent on curiosity, tempering obsession, seeking “the value of experience understood as a craft”[90].
Although I use quite rational compositional processes, I seek for my music to have a final result that I consider to be of artistic and musical interest. The rational processes are only tools to achieve the writing of the pieces and never a final goal of the pieces. My works have a thought, an idea, but are developed using some skills, and techniques, that can grow into a piece of art.
The third factor is the representation in a work of art of the artist's identity that creates it. In my opinion, there should be a personal, individual search in the work created, seeking an identity of its own - one that encompasses any of the artist's identity elements. These elements can be of various kinds. My identity can be present in various ways, either from the traditional elements of my homeland (as in the pieces present in this project), or by expressing something I experienced when writing the work, or by my ideologies. As a listener, when I listen to a work of art, that is what I expect to find. An object that represents the creator artist.
From an individual point of view, a work of art is a reflection of the artist who creates it, thus representing not only the artist himself, but also the moment in which he lives - either on a personal level or in community.
In this way, a work of art can be seen as a lens into a particular culture. Each work of art is a door that can lead us to better understand a certain culture. The analysis of Beethoven's work, for example, relating it also to political events of the time, are a way to better understand what was happening in society at the time. In this way, a work of art created today will have a possible political and sociological reading in the future, either in an understanding in relation to the composer as an individual, or as a part of a society in motion. Therefore, in my opinion, a composer should not only be seen as an individual who writes a piece of music. The role of an artist is also to think about society and to bring society (even if it is only a personal vision) into his work.
A work of art may, or may not, be beautiful, but it must represent the (artistic, or in this case musical) idea of the composer. It should express the world, or worlds, inner and outer to the artist. That is also what I look for in my pieces. If my world is not a paradise with unicorns and rainbows (and I'm glad it isn't!), why should I represent that 'world' in my music. Of course I could represent it as a form of desire, to present in musical form the dream of life I might wish to have. But this is not my way of being, and life has given me more pain than exactly tranquil moments of laughing happiness - and there is no harm in that, “it is what it is”.
Thus, art aims to make us reflect on life, contributing to our (self)consciousness and identity, through imitation and representation of society (or life) “in the form of a lived experience”[91]. Art “contributes to our awareness and self-awareness and with that to our self-image and identity. (...) as such, art is one of the most important forms of cultural awareness we have, and it is the form that affects us most directly, precisely because it comes with and through an experience”[92].
Different artists, in different periods of history, have sought a more beautiful, more interesting or more real art.
This search for personal development in each of the works is an inheritance I have from music creation, mainly since the 19th century (mainly with Beethoven) and where the personal cult of the composer started to acquire more prominence. Following Shils’ definition of tradition, there are two traditions that have an enormous weight in the art I create: the folk tradition and the tradition (or canon) of western classical music (or “art music”). As Shils says, “no imagination is so free as to be able to contrive something wholly new, comprehensive, and detailed”[93].
We live in a society greatly influenced by the past. Greek and Latin antiquity, the Judeo-Christian teachings, influenced by Germanic, Slavic and Muslim traditions (and others, of course), all of European history and development are still present in European and world culture[94]. In the arts, and more specifically in music, we observe a great importance of the sharing of musical traditions, techniques and ideas, among others, since prehistoric times[95].
These same influences are present in my education, in my way of being and thinking, and therefore present in the music I write. These influences may not be perceptible to a less attentive listener, and are often complicated for me to explain. But whether in a conscious or unconscious way, influences are part of my compositional process.
On an artistic level, my music is the result of a European development. I am constantly influenced by European composers, from the beginning of the 14th century to the present day. I am aware that without the work of the composers who preceded me, my works would not have the same value. Except for Takemitsu and Piazzolla, two extra-European composers (although they both had a great bond with European music), all the composers that inspire me are European (from Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler, to Vasques-Dias, Saariaho, Henderickx, Iannotta, Costa, among many, many others).
I am aware that I do not create anything new, from scratch. My music is the development, from my point of view and with my own musical language, of what other composers in the past have developed. The past is an unavoidable starting point for my actions. I am aware that much of what I do is due to what other composers have created in the past. Not only regarding the use of elements of popular culture in my music (since Haydn, (and much earlier), Brahms, to give just two examples), but also the classical tradition of written music, or if we want to call it “classical music”. Regarding aesthetics, and although over the last 15 years some of my pieces have followed different aesthetics, I'm aware that everything I have done has been developed from others. Nothing is created from scratch. My influences - often unconsciously for me in the process of composing - are easily noticeable. Although the creative work “forces” or “leads” me to find other (sometimes new) ways of developing the music in the piece I write, I am aware that what I do is a development of what has been done in the past. I am part of a music history influenced by itself, developed in itself. Nothing from the beginning of individual musical creation is completely new. It comes about through a development of the creative thought of others. And, in my view, it could not be otherwise.
This perception of being developing a work that follows a tradition leads me to analyse art as being in constant development. Few elements are invented again, and the great composers of European (or Western) classical music have a very big impact on my way of thinking and developing new works. I see works of art as creations which are based on the reaction to society and other created works (either from one composer or comparing different composers).
Following the idea of the continuous development of art, a new work of art has in itself (‘stores’, has in its musical or artistic content) properties of past works of art. However, it must also offer new properties, a search for sounds and ideas that are a development of what has been done. A work of art must innovate - and here, the innovation can be in relation to the artist himself, or, in the most brilliant composers, innovations for music in general.
Fourth, and last factor, it is important that a work of art has some inherent space for subjectivity, so that those who do not know the composer, his personal life, his path, can appreciate the work, creating their personal connections to it.
That is why, when I write a musical work, I seek to communicate with those who will listen to or watch the pieces. I can hardly understand that an artist would not seek this, since a work will only have full value if it is interpreted and presented. If the purpose of the creation is that it be done and kept in a drawer, the artefact (or the result of the work) ceases to be artistic and becomes merely a study in technical development. Despite this, and because it is extremely important for me that the public appreciates and enjoys the music I write, I do not have this acceptance (or evaluation) as a permanent objective. The appreciation of a musical work of art can be as complex as is the person who listens to it. It is, for me, logical that the knowledge one acquires interferes with the way a work is heard or analysed (even if "analysed" in an aural way, in a concert). It interests me more that I am satisfied with the works I write, as well as the evaluation of some of my peers (those whom I trust to criticize based on the technique used, imagination and musical search).
When I write new pieces, I always have as a goal that the audience hears the pieces involved in the little world I create in them[96]. Although it is not central to the understanding of my pieces - since I consider individual freedom in the perception of a work important, opening the way for personal imagination - I consider it very important to know their background in order to understand as best as possible my artistic thinking behind them.
I like the idea of a piece being able to speak for itself and be understood by each listener in a personal way. The pieces all have a personal point of view, an individual "world". This world, heard by me, in loco, worked on technically and artistically afterwards, is also presented with personal filters that are sometimes difficult for me to describe.
In summary: for me, a work of art should reflect the creativity, technical skills and talent of the creator, and at the same time give space for the listener to receive it with some subjectivity, also making it their own.
My influences
estimated read time: 5 minutes
Since I first started composing, when I was about 15 years old, I tried to listen to several composers who were building the history of European music throughout the 20th century, from the members of the second school of Vienna (Schoenberg, Berg and Webern), to Várese, Cage, Stockhausen, Ligeti, and later Berio, Takemitsu, Boulez, Saariaho, among many, many others. Although I started to compose in the 21st century, I have been learning with the great composers of the 20th century, through the disciplines of “Práticas Musicais” (at ESMAE) where we analyse and write music in the style of different composers or languages (French Music of the beginning of the 20th century, B. Bartok, second school of Vienna, J. Cage, spectralism, among many others), but also by my personal taste.
I realize that this can still be heard in my music - although I have other influences, influences of pieces and composers already from the 21st century. From the second school of Vienna I still use, in my compositional process (usually more in the moment I called “pre-composition”), methods of melodic and rhythmic treatment that I develop throughout the composition. From Várese (and others), I started the search for a use of the sounds that surround me in my daily life, by thinking them and transforming them into musical elements of the pieces. In this way, the musique concrète of Pierre Schaeffer and other composers also had a significant influence.
My individual search, in all the works I write, is driven by the will to continue to develop what other composers have presented, expanding and seeking other points of view from the work of those same composers. Stockhausen wrote that “there have always been different kinds of artists: those who were mainly mirrors of their time, and then a very few who had a visionary power, (...) those who were able to announce the next stage in the development of mankind, really listen into the future, and through their work prepare the people for what was to come”[97]. In fact, I believe there is a third group of composers. Besides those who are a mirror of their time and who 'take advantage' of the creation of the 'visionaries', developing elements that the former created, trying to represent the world as they live it and the 'visionaries' who try to discover how music will sound in the future, 'forcing' music to have new visions, I believe there is still a type of composers who are always behind their time, suggesting with their music that the 'world' sounds the same as it did in the past. I see myself in the first type of artists, being influenced by society and the current political and cultural situation. Also my way of seeing the musical and artistic elements in my pieces and of developing them falls in that first category presented by Stockhausen. I try to develop techniques (whether instrumental or compositional) that already exist and that the first group of composers created or developed, giving them a more personal point of view in their treatment. So I don't consider myself as a composer who creates something completely new. I see myself as a composer who develops, in a personal way, processes, ideas and elements that have been used over the last centuries, seeking an identity of my own in my music. In a certain way, each piece itself works through memory. Each new idea results from the previous idea, either by development or as a reaction.
I am also influenced by various types of music, from contemporary “classical” music, “old” classical music, jazz, hip-hop, pop, traditional music, among many other genres that I hear in my daily life. Some are more present than others, but I try to include - sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously - these different genres of music.
Perhaps the pieces where the elements of music (non-classical) that I heard during the process of composition are more easily perceptible are: “¡SchoL!” where I tried to use some elements of Jazz that I heard at the time (I remember some classes where Wim Henderickx and I analysed the drums of some jazz standards), as well as elements (mainly in the pitch) of “Nem às paredes confesso”; “biLhete”, where I use the piano introduction of the song “Bilhete” by Ivan Lins (in the version with António Zambujo), as a harmonic base and as a point of arrival; “do lume que pesa”, where I used in the last part of the piece the harmonies and melodies, although in a worked form, not so perceptible to the inattentive ear, from the song “A gente vai continuar” by Jorge Palma. When I started composing “do lume que pesa”, I thought of using a slow melody in the second part, which would represent my mourning. During the process of composition, I changed the idea to a melody that could express “hope”. So, I used, in a crafted way, on the piano, a melody by the Portuguese composer/singer Jorge Palma. I used "A gente vai continuar" because of the lyrics that the song has, especially the part of the chorus: “Enquanto houver estrada p’ra andar A gente vai continuar” ("While there is a road to walk, we will keep going). The piano plays a “reduction” of the melody, while the strings play until bar 157, two chords of the song's harmony. Finally, the electronics came from the sound work of a piano improvisation based on this song and the reduction made for this piece. For a detailed presentation please click here.
As an artist, I have realized exactly that my way of perceiving my work, the art I create and even the way of standing in the music scene, is influenced by the ways in which those around me have taught me to be and to behold this environment. According to Lima, this influence - which I have received in an unconsciously way, and which remained unconscious until some time ago - is due to the fact that ideas which guide our lives are “largely socially constructed shared by people of the same social class or generation”[98]. I certainly would not be where I am if I was not in constant artistic exchange with colleagues and friends. I have no doubt that the people I've learnt most from over the last 10 years are the people around me, who have been teaching me so much - and who I also hope will learn something from me. From projects, rehearsals or just making plans with other artists for the near or distant future, as in the cases of the collaborations with Antwerpen Camerata, Frederic Cardoso, the project "A Geada matou os Narcisos" with Teatro 0, among others, to lunches, snacks or dinners with colleagues and friends - Nuno Costa, Bruno Ferreira, Igor C. Silva, Paolo Galli, Nils van der Plancken - and, of course, also by the constant conversations with Mafalda, in all these moments I was learning and shaping some ideas and thoughts that brought me here.
My process of composition
estimated read time: 7 minutes
There are three main stages in my composition process: 1) "pre-composition"; 2) development; 3) revisions.
The first, "pre-composition" (the name I give here just to simplify the explanation), is perhaps the most important part of my compositional process. This is the moment where I search and collect all the information that I expect to use in the piece, from the choice of instruments, formal ideas, timbres, rhythmic, harmonic, musical gestures. In short, this is where I define how I want the piece to sound and also how the instrumentalist or instrumental group (be it ensemble or orchestra) looks and acts on stage. The latter is not done with the intention of creating a theatrical performance, but it helps me understand what feeling I want to have as listener/ spectator, because I believe that the way a piece is presented can offer another perspective to the audience.
This is a crucial moment of the composition process for me, where I seek and later define what the artistic purpose of the piece is, which elements will be more important to develop later. There are many elements that I consider important and these can vary from piece to piece. In the music I write, silence, rests, long notes, rhythms that complement each other, the ways in which harmonies are formed and interact with each other, and the way I deal with tension(s) in the pieces, all these are fundamental aspects (or elements).
All these elements lead me to try to imagine how I would like the piece to sound and, from there, some ideas emerge and are developed in another moment of the compositional process. It is here that I start to develop the idea of what I want to express in the piece, some musical ideas (often vague, like musical gestures, little melodies, rhythmic ideas) and also the temporal and formal planning of the piece. All this happens from different brainstormings, often at home, but other times in travels, visiting museums or even in concerts.
On commissioned works, I seek that the person who commissioned the piece feels represented in it. So I do some research about the instrumentalist or the group, trying to understand what kind of aesthetics they normally interpret, understanding what kind of elements (musical or sonorous) are more adequate to the idea of the person who commissioned the piece. In this phase, I always organise some informal meetings where I exchange some ideas with the person who commissioned the pieces. Frequently, commissions come with specific requests, like, for instance, having some relation with a piece by another composer (as it happened in “was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht”, with connections to the quartet “Der Tod und das Mädchen” by F. Schubert), with texts (like in “diz tu por mim, silêncio”, where I was asked to use a poem by José Saramago, for the commemoration of the writer's centenary), or even to an event (like in “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão”, where I was asked to use elements from Braga's Festival of St. John in the piece). It is also at this stage that I do research on elements related to the idea I start to develop, doing exhaustive research related to the request. In “was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht”, the research led me to the poem “Erlkönig” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, from which I took the quote that gives the title of the piece.
After organising the instrumentation, I study the sound possibilities of the instruments I am going to use, focusing on the sonic world I have previously defined.
Especially in this stage of “pre-composition”, I always carry one or more notebooks. I do this not because I'm waiting for ‘inspiration’ to come, but to always have at hand where to write down the ideas resulting from those “brainstormings” that I do or that I'm mentally constructing. Sometimes they are just words, or sentences, written ideas. Other times they are drawings (tension graphs or showing the movement of the elements by the instruments). Other times they are the first musical ideas that, at a later stage, I develop.
In addition to this, there is also the formal work of the piece. One of the first steps in my compositional process is the development of a form for the piece, which leads to the construction of a narrative, that I develop later. Although each piece has a different form, I always use the same calculations, multiplying the total seconds by the golden ration (0.618) - see image on the left. The result of these calculations are used in different ways depending on the piece.
In my composition process I often use some graphics to experiment or organize some ideas. Initially, I create some graphics with loose ideas, a kind of preview of the ideas I have at the beginning of the creative process. In a second phase, I create graphics (which I usually call the "map of the piece") where I organize the form of the piece. Here, I usually organize the initial ideas, with the seconds of each part, and create a tension chart. At this stage, the piece is usually already roughly structured, although I always leave some room for the form or duration of each part of the piece to change. The tension graph can be a demonstration of the dynamics to be used, but also the type of gestures, speed (time of the piece, but also of the micro-rhythms of that moment), number of instruments playing at that moment (in the case of works with a larger instrumentation), among other details that can guide me throughout the composition process. During the process of composition I'm writing in this "map" different ideas (or changes) that I'm doing to the work.
Another example of drawings I use as part of the creation process is the movement of musical elements through the instrumentation. In the process of composition, I think about the image, organise it, plan the paths I take during the piece and, in the end, write the music that represents them. So I use drawings to mediate between these traditional elements and adapt the music I make. It's my way of translating one into the other. In "ensaio para um s. joão", in order to look for the movement of people, I created a drawing where I planned the movements of the musical motif. In this case, the drawing was fundamental for me to achieve the "chaos" of the movement of people at the party, creating the “controlled chaos” that I wanted. These movements are sound, and are not a performative (visual) act.
In one of the classes I had the opportunity to attend at the "2021 Darmstadt Summer Course", the Israeli American composer Chaya Czernowin told me that she understood that my way of composing was somehow about translating the visual into music, i.e. that I had a kind of frame/painting/image in my head and would translate that into music, and that it was perceived that my pieces were thought out from the beginning, as if “there was a map”. When I finished the class with Czernowin I was really impressed with her analysis. I felt like I had walked out of a psychology appointment or something. Her words were completely spot on.
In the second part of my creative process, I develop the pre-established and chosen ideas. This is the moment when I write on the score, always with paper and pen. This part of the process varies from piece to piece, even if the methodologies used are similar or have been developed from previous pieces. This is where I develop the gestures, melodies and harmonies and where I work on the orchestration of the sound. Depending on the form of the piece (or the narrative), a sound element may be orchestrated differently. In “do lume que pesa”, for example, I developed the sound of the matracas and the ‘fire’ in different ways. Each of the 5 instrumentalists uses in the performance two matracas, one small and one big, but the resulting sound is worked on the instruments in different ways. Some examples of this work can be seen: 1) in the voice part that each player will have to interpret, and where I ask them to whisper "ru" and "r" (bar 12-14, for example); 2) in the flute playing at the same time a trill between two notes, trill in the embouchure (half-open<->closed), while producing with throat and tongue the sound "gr" (bars 21 and 22); 3) in the strings, through different forms of overpressure with increasing pressure bars 25 and 26), in pianissimo (bars 34 and 35), or playing behind the bridge (bars 29 and 30); 4) on the piano through the repetition of high notes (bars 16 and 17, and bars 50-52, the latter in a developed form) or with glissando on keys, without pressing the keys and, therefore, not producing the sound of the piano strings (bars 30-34). The sound of flames is developed through the use of key-clicks in the clarinet (bars 15-17) and in the flute (bars 32-33), circular bowing in the violin (bar 17), guiro-movement in the violin and cello (bars 59 and 60) and in the voice part, through the production of “s”. For further understanding of these examples, see The use of elements of Braga’s Holy Week in “do lume que pesa”.
In my compositional process there is also some space for intuition as a tool to develop the elements. This "intuition" is perhaps an influence from the exterior, not conscious.
The last part of my compositional process consists in transcribing the score to the computer, and then revising what has been written, after moments of reading the piece, briefly observing and reviewing the final result, with room for some changes.
The use of Portuguese traditional elements
estimated read time: 10 minutes
My compositional process is essentially the same whether I use traditional elements or not. I believe that this would be a particular characteristic of my work. The use of those elements only influences the writing of the work in the treatment of those elements, but not the general process of composition. This happens because, for me, the development of the musical elements is influenced by their characteristics, which means that each element also has its own specificity when it comes to its development. For me, no element is “sacred” - in the sense that it is not a “sin” or a “crime” to use, develop, translate or deconstruct it. In relation to traditional elements, perhaps this is because of the way I see tradition itself.
When speaking about “traditional culture”, there is a certain bias of seeing it as synonymous with "archaic and obsolete" due to the existing view that “modern Western societies” had about others[99]. My view on “tradition” is different, and I look only at its basic definition. Tradition is something that is passed on. It can be archaic or obsolete, or it can be developed. It can be rural, but also urban. It can be local or more globalised. But it must have been passed on, from generation to generation and, of course, accepted by the people who follow it, and be part of the present.
It is not always easy to understand when something becomes a tradition. A tradition needs repetition over a period of time. As we saw here, Shils argues that for something to be considered a “tradition” it must pass through three generations and at least two transmissions[100]. A “tradition” should be repeated for some time (and this time depends on the sort of tradition) and be established with the intention of being repeated in the future. The tradition only survives with the initiators, participants and followers, who receive it and can pass it on, continuing the process of spreading the tradition. The patterns of rituals or traditions develop gradually over years or generations, often without the participants being aware of the changes they are producing in the traditions[101].
The evolution process of tradition is also a selection process. This selection process is not an exclusively individual act of choosing. When an individual becomes aware, in its various forms, of a tradition, it has already been subjected to various choices and only a small part of its elements come to his knowledge as a result of the development of that tradition.
As we saw here, the selection of a tradition can happen for different reasons, for example because there is an emotional attachment, a preference, or because one feels that one tradition is more valuable than another. This selection process happens for example in the transmission of folk songs. When someone sings or teaches (basically transmits) a song, it is because he or she likes it - this is a selection of personal taste, of emotion.
Despite the connection to the past, a tradition stuck in the past and which is not developed is not a tradition, ceasing to exist as such and should be assumed as a representation of tradition. Therefore, and assuming that every tradition is developable and changeable, tradition and past should be seen as starting points for a development and a future. It is part of the development of a tradition that it changes. This is the only way to keep tradition alive. Any tradition that remains exactly the same for decades is not tradition, it will be a museum representation in real time.
Cultural traditions do not exist in books, or even on recordings. These reproductions are mere registers of tradition as it would be at the time they were created. Tradition, a real tradition, is in the streets, in the people. The transcriptions serve to preserve and disseminate the songs. Certainly, the dissemination could be done through audio, which would perhaps offer greater freedom in reinterpretation, following the tradition (i.e. the oral transmission of the songs). All transcriptions present a interpretation of the person who created them, and there are certainly different ways of transcribing a song. Therefore, they should not be followed rigidly. In my case, I use transcriptions of traditional songs as a tool for my compositional process, changing or developing the melody. I do not aim at doing field work, focused on recording musical examples from the tradition. My aim when I study, research and record (in a amateur way) examples of traditional music is artistic, so that this same music can influence me and so that I can use it in pieces I will write in the future. Like Lopes-Graça, I am interested in the aesthetic aspect, in the “psychological and morphological virtualities”, in the expressivity and musicality present in the musical examples and in the “potential, sometimes dramatic, sometimes pathetic, sometimes lyrical”, in their expressivity and musicality[102]. Tradition is for me a starting point.
As I have already mentioned, although I work with “tradition” as an inspiration for my work, my aim is not to preserve it as it exists at the moment, but to disseminate it and to seek to demonstrate that tradition must continue to be developed. This development does not have to be dictated by one person, but by the collective choices of everyday life, letting the present be involved in the past and thus the future be built in a progressive and conscious way. In other words, what I am also looking for is that societies (in the specific case of this project, the society of Braga) are aware that tradition is the present, and should not be stuck (i.e., blocked) in the past.
In my opinion, innovation is not an enemy of tradition but a condition for “tradition” to exist. As I have already mentioned in this project, “tradition” is not static, despite its connection to the past. Tradition is made on a daily basis. It is not dead and is in constant development. And if it ever stops developing, it will cease to be a tradition and will become a representation of tradition or a memory. Therefore, and assuming that all traditions can be developed and change, I look at tradition and the past as a starting point for development, new sounds and the future. It is part of the development of a tradition that it changes. This is the only way to keep tradition alive.
What interests me is that the elements can change, and that it is possible for an element of tradition - whether it be song, story, etc. - can and is altered, modified. An example of a change of a tradition presented in this project is what happens in the “Visita Pascal”, mainly in the North of Portugal. As presented above, in the “Visita Pascal” a group of people visit each of the houses in their parish and the priest - or in his absence, a representative - reads a short prayer, while sprinkling holy water. This is followed by each person there kissing the Cross. This moment of the “Visita Pascal” has been undergoing changes. In the past, everyone present would kiss the cross. Nowadays, there are people who simulate the kiss and others who kiss the hand and touch the cross with it. The practice of people kissing the cross can be maintained. But it would be ridiculous if this tradition were the same today as it was in the 90s. Other small elements are changing. The food that is prepared at Easter is different, although there are certainly some traditional elements still on the menu. The way used - and the utensils one uses - to prepare the food has certainly changed too. And, of course, the way people dress has certainly changed. It would be illogical to live Easter today in the same way as 20 years ago.
During this project, by researching the traditional events I was dealing with, I became more aware of them. From a cultural point of view, it was very interesting for me to understand how some traditions were born, what the reasons for their creation were, why they were created and how they have changed over time.
Although I recognise the importance - and, perhaps in some historical moments, the necessity - of traditions created 'by decree', in my music I give more value to the transformations of traditions carried out by those who attend them and, thus, develop them. I like to think about the importance that each cell present in the tradition - each person, or, in some cases, each family - has in the socio-cultural development of that same tradition.
The first pieces where I used traditional Portuguese elements were written before I came to study in Antwerp (for example, the electronic piece “Entrai pastores”). In those pieces, I used Portuguese elements because I found them beautiful, interesting to use in my own pieces and because they met the message I wanted to present in the pieces. It was nothing too thought out, but artistic choices, almost unconscious.
Later, when I was in Antwerp, I had the feeling that people were unaware of Portuguese culture, thinking it was the same as Spanish culture or that it only consisted of Fado. When I started this project, one of my main goals was to show that Portuguese culture was not only Fado. I wanted to show different songs and traditional objects, typical instruments that are still used nowadays in Portugal.
Although fado is often considered the national song - a fact already rejected a century ago by Armando Leça in “Da música portuguesa” (1922) - fado is not the traditional musical genre most present in Braga and, consequently, in my Minho roots. I like to listen to it, I am even, in a certain way, influenced by fado, but there are other genres that are closer to me like Malhão, the lullabies or the pilgrimage songs that my ancestors sang. This is why I use different traditional songs, from the Minho region, as an influence more often than I use fado.
Leça considered that what allows the “hollow adoration of fado presented as a national song” is the ignorance of the Portuguese songbook[103]. Malhão, Vira, Fandango, Corridinho are some of the examples that show us the musical diversity in all regions of the country. Genres that represent the local (or regional) tradition, which more authentic and therefore better represent the people and their culture. For Leça, fado was a manifestation of urban, peripheral music, and not the emotional essence of a region or a people. Therefore, to call it a “national song” reveals an ignorance of “typical” music or a financial purpose, in the search for sales to the masses[104]. The true “popular music” is, for Armando Leça, the music of the “rustic people, simple, communicative, traditionalist in the melodic styles that are retransmitted”, regional, limited in choreographic patterns, and restricted as an artistic manifestation[105].
According to Lopes-Graça, each people has its “own psychological characteristics, its more or less individual culture, its more or less autonomous civilizational concept”, but these factors are not static[106]. I mention Lopes-Graça because this composer is one of the most relevant when it comes to spreading traditional Portuguese music and reusing its elements in concert pieces. Lopes-Graça “alludes to a sound ambience recognisably situated in an Iberian geo-cultural context, and expresses a bitterness coloured by hope, which can be symbolically read as a portrait of the social situation”[107]. He considered the “art of each people” to be “the product of an individual experience based on collective tradition” [108].
On the other hand, my vision in relation to the way one should work on the traditional song diverges from Lopes-Graça’s opinion. Lopes-Graça argued that, when working on “a popular song, one should respect its ‘identity’, which meant, namely, not its adaptation to the norms of tonal harmony (for instance), but rather the attempt to correspond to the potentialities that it itself offered, in its modal structure and other archaisms - which could not be considered a ‘reactionary’ attitude, but rather an opportunity for renewal and opening to the ‘conquests of the grammar of modern music’”[109]. My opinion is contrasting insofar as I consider anything to be possible. When, in my pieces, I harmonize traditional melodies (it happens in “ensaio para um s. joão”, “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão” and in many other pieces I wrote in the last fifteen years), I use tools I learnt throughout my journey up to now and that continue to influence me. When I use those elements (I gave the example of melodies, but I do the same with rhythms, taking them out of the world they originally belonged to and giving them another perspective), I look at the elements as tools that I can use in the pieces, and so I use them as I think they have more artistic value in the piece. Perhaps I see my work with these elements in a more personal way, and therefore these pieces are influenced by the traditional elements rather than an arrangement of them.
In all the writings I have read about Lopes-Graça and his way of working with traditional music, the author talks about the arrangements he makes and what he wants to achieve with them (a presentation of the “lived world”). In opposition to Lopes-Graça’s work, I don't usually create arrangements of the pieces, but I use them (translate them) in my pieces according to what I think will have more artistic value for them. The representation of the “lived world”, in my pieces, is not achieved “only” by the harmonization of the pieces, but with the combination of all the elements present in them. I also try to create “a kind of balance between identification and distance that stimulated, also on the reception side, a critical attitude”[110], but with other elements than just the traditional melodies.
All this made me want to present different elements of traditional Portuguese culture and, more specifically, elements of traditional culture that were linked to my roots, to the cultural heritage of my family and of Braga. So I was looking for different elements, both musical (like some melodies and the use of typical instruments) and also of culture.
Although I had already used elements of Portuguese culture in my pieces before I went to Antwerp, I think the move to Belgium made me look for (and find) different perspectives of those Portuguese elements. By being outside Portugal, I was able to observe how non-Portuguese people perceive Portuguese culture, which led me, for example, to move away from using fado elements and look for elements from the city of Braga in order to disseminate them. On the other hand, it also allowed me to have some distance to analyse, from an external point of view, Portuguese cultural elements. Perhaps the emotional side, for being far from Portugal, also made me look more about its culture and led me to listen to more Portuguese music.
This project led me, initially in an unconscious way, to a search for my own way of framing and translating those elements, developing them in my music.
Traditional music
estimated read time: 8 minutes
The music that influences me - and here I speak only of music, not of the other cultural elements that inspire me - can be described and categorised according to different perspectives that I would summarise in three categories: 1) elitist; 2) geographical; 3) temporal.
The first category, two different cultures are presented: “low culture” vs “high culture”, the difference between “folk music” or “musique populaire” (in Portuguese one can say “música folclórica” or“música popular”) with “art music”.
According to Parente, the first known use of the word “folklore” was in England, in the year 1846, by the British writer William John Thoms. “Folklore” was then a word composed of “folk” (people) and “lore” (science), representing the "study or knowledge of the people, their customs and traditions”[111]. Following this concept, folk music would be music produced and danced by the people.
The term “folklore”, in Portugal, has changed its designation over the years, distancing itself from the initial etymological definition. This term came to designate the folkloric movement, “Ranchos de folclore” and “the representations that these groups make of those customs and traditions, especially of choreographed music” [112]. Often, if not in most cases, these representations do not correspond faithfully to the real popular manifestations[113]. Due to this, the word “fakelore” began to be used, showing the “adulterated sub-product of what was a pure expression of the people when they lived their traditional life of isolation and self-creation” [114]. In Portugal, during the Estado Novo, there appeared examples of folk music, presented as authentic representations of traditional music, which were in reality “folkloric counterfactions” (as Lopes-Graça called it) or "fakelore" (in the generalized English term). These examples of "organized folklore" were mass productions, following the propaganda objectives of the new state and the market rules[115].
“Authentic folklore”, as opposed to “folk counterfactions”, was dynamic (not static), linked to the essential everyday functions of the local community and part of the “lived world” of a community (not part of a more or less commercialised or administered system) and related to the functions, beliefs and idiosyncrasies of that particular community[116].
One of the problems I see in "fakelore" today is the fact that artistic ambition wants to surpass the utilitarian result. In fact, I believe that there is essentially a will to recreate, on stage, traditional music. And, in my opinion, recreation is not folk music. Folk music is not on stage, it's in people and in their everyday use.
But this is also what makes the objects (or elements) develop. I will give the example of the Cavaquinho and the Viola Braguesa which did not have a great development for centuries. These were rustic instruments, from the people for the people (whether playing or listening). In recent years they have finally become objects of study (academic and artistic) which led to a search for the improvement of construction techniques, using different woods and types of strings. This has only happened through the will to develop. Of course the Cavaquinho is a traditional instrument, but it is opening doors to other types of work, as shown by Daniel Pereira Cristo or, even, as I try to demonstrate with my work (for example, in the piece "dream is my reality", where I use this instrument with electronics). Globalisation and the technical and technological possibilities are fundamental in the (continuous) development of tradition.
Cavaquinho and Viola Braguesa have great potentialities and, if the aim is for the instruments to be included in a larger group of “erudite” instruments (those which are present in “classical music”, perhaps it is necessary to have the same level of demand in relation to quality (in relation to the materials used and the sounds produced). Let us do the imaginative exercise of understanding how someone from the 16th century would look at today's violins - and even at the bows and techniques used. It is true that the development of the violin when compared to other instruments or even objects we use in our daily life, was not that great. But even so, the carefulness in the construction of the instrument, in its performance and in the composition of pieces to be interpreted on it, is completely different from that period. I imagine that with the Cavaquinho and the Viola Braguesa the reactions are approximately the same. Anyway, I think it is part of the artistic work of an instrumentalist and composer that the instruments are developed and improved (so that the quality of the pieces and performances can also evolve).
In Portugal, the term “música popular” was used by the elites at the end of the 19th century to refer to music “disseminated among different sectors of society” and folk music[117].
The difference between “rural music” and “urban music” is part of the geographical category, the second category I mentioned. Rural music, or “music of rural origin”, is used to refer to practices and repertoires that are transmitted orally from generation to generation and that are inserted in a traditional order in contexts such as family gatherings, the tavern and agrarian work[118]. “World music” is still a definition that can be part of this “geographical” idea. Despite this, I consider this different view to be ambiguous, inadequate and vague, as it does not present any difference to other musical forms and is essentially a Eurocentric perception of cultural heritage - all music is from the world.
I do not use regional definitions (rural vs urban) for two reasons. First, the music that inspires me is not only from a specific place. I am inspired by old songs from rural areas (as I developed in the 2012 work about the songs in Santa Maria de Bouro) but also by traditional songs from the city of Braga (like the songs about S. João that I used in the pieces). Furthermore, the songs are not present only in one place, they are not held captive only in one place and they accompany whoever wants to sing them. The songs I often use as a starting point have been, are and will be everywhere, usually passed on orally, other times already present in books (anthologies) and online videos.
Traditional music was, in most examples, created anonymously, often developed together and created for everyday use in different situations such as lullabies, work music, music for before, during and after festivities and pilgrimages, among other examples[119]. Their creators, who later taught the songs orally and therefore did not sign them, were not renowned artists seeking notoriety for having created something, but ordinary people, part of a community[120]. These songs were accepted over the years by other members of the community who spread and defended them.
These songs were then repeated, and each singer incorporated them into their daily lives, reproducing them emotionally and imaginatively. The variations of the song that result from each repetition show the singer's imprint and cultural context[121]. Despite this, the product is not individualistic, but a “social product that, although going through different times and spaces, nevertheless preserves its fundamental traits” [122]. Azevedo, in the book “Os cantares polifónicos do Baixo Minho”, mentions that, when developing fieldwork by recording different examples of traditional music, it was noticeable that there was always room for creativity[123]. This was due to the creativity of the singers but also due to the fact that the memorisation of the songs was not strict, mechanical or exact and that it went beyond the repetition of each word of the song[124]. The fact that the elements of the song (melody, harmony, rhythm and text) are constantly being remade is due to the fact that there is no manuscript to stabilise and fix the song[125]. This can result in a multitude of versions, all valid since one of the characteristics of traditional song is this very variation[126].
There are several known cases of melodies sung in the north of Portugal that, with the same or different text are sung, for example, in Alentejo (south of the country), usually changing the instrumentation that accompanies the singer and, sometimes, the speed of the song itself. These songs are thus passed from generation to generation, altered by the contexts where they are inserted. Which brings us to the temporal term: tradition.
In my opinion, “traditional music” as opposed to new music (i.e. newly created) represents a dichotomy and an inheritance present in the music that influences me. My project, in terms of the music that influences me, presents a dichotomy between music from the past, brought as heritage to the present, with music written today. So I have developed this work thinking about the temporal definition of music, using the term “traditional” to describe it. The music that inspires me is a cultural heritage, object of development over years, decades if not centuries, and which has reached me today, through the society that surrounds me.
One of the elements that I consider fundamental in traditional Portuguese music, especially in vocal music, is the existence of different versions, where each interpretation will be different from the previous one. The names of the singers have been lost in time, so they are considered common heritage. The songs are repeated by each person as if they were their own, emotionally and imaginatively recreating them. In this way, the songs are a social product and, despite being transmitted in different spaces and times, they preserve their fundamental characteristics[127].
Traditional music is not static and there are always different versions of the same song, all accepted in the same way[128]. As there is no written score that fixes and stabilises the songs, melodies, rhythms and harmonies can be constantly recreated and a great diversity of the same songs can appear[129]. Popular creativity is thus a crucial and, in my opinion, very interesting factor that enriches every moment the songs are sung. Therefore, the memorization of traditional songs is not “exact, mechanical, rigorous, of repetition word by word", always leaving room "for a certain creativity” [130].
The diversity that I find in traditional music is one of the beauties that it can present. Since there is no artistic creator, there is room for each person or each group to make their own interpretation, leading, many times, to something in the piece being changed (dynamics, text, tempo or even melodies and harmonies). This characteristic of the traditional song was one of the reasons why I included the final chorale in the piece “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão”. This chorale was written in a way to create space for some improvisation. At the premiere of the piece, on the weekend of 27 and 28 November 2017, the fifteen wind orchestras that performed it understood this openness of the choir and created different interpretations, with different soloists (solo, two voices, and with female and male voices) and different results in the accompaniment.
When using this kind of music in new pieces, I try to present the traditional elements from my individual, artistic point of view. Furthermore, I always try to explore the background of the pieces, which can be the place where they are most characteristic, the context in which they are sung, as well as the way they are usually sung and the lyrical expression of each song. I also have the concern of not forgetting the social, group character that these songs have. Although I work these melodies, rhythms and harmonies from my own, artistic and perhaps individualistic point of view, these songs represent different situations and people who have sung them over decades and perhaps centuries. Hence the search for that heritage continues to be present in my pieces.
Why do I use traditional elements?
estimated read time: 4 minutes
There are three main reasons why I integrate traditional elements in my pieces. Firstly, these elements are connected to my roots, and I identify the heritage of my family and myself in those elements, which I have been listening to and watching since my early days. The family is the first bond “in the chain which binds past and present and future into the structure of a society is reforged every time an infant is born and survives”[131]. Children receive traditions and stories from their parents and family, but as they grow up they receive other traditions and knowledge from other groups such as friends, teachers, their peers, other people they live with and other situations they experience. This makes people reflect on the traditions they have received from their families and this leads them to adapt to what they believe or not. Deep down there is always still the first matrix given by the family. Perhaps some of these things become conscious later on, and the individual reflects on them. They were not thought of at the moment when the individual receives the traditions (songs, stories, rituals), but later reflection may arise (leading them to pass on to their descendants, and in my case doing this work)[132]. According to Shils, we are initially moulded by family traditions, this being one of the three great institutions that are responsible for the transmission of traditions alongside religion and school[133].
Traditional music had a great influence on my family until the early 1990s. This influence is not direct to me, but I always had a great admiration and affection, which I gained through family stories and memories. My paternal grandfather, who unfortunately I never met, played the accordion. My father danced in the ‘rancho folclórico’ of his home town, and my mother was a member of the Rusga de S. Vicente. I have never seen either of them perform, but the memories that were passed on to me in family evenings looking at photos have remained. Perhaps the only connection I have, directly, is hearing my grandmother, aunts and parents singing traditional songs when I was a child, and singing those same songs to my younger cousins. This led to me, in 2011, recording several people in my family singing those same songs, documenting them.
In my search for my identity as an artist, I have been giving a lot of value to the diversity of creative expressions and a respect for other cultures and traditions. The society of Braga gives a lot of value to the memory and the cultural, traditional heritage. This is the cultural heritage I have and that I have been learning, and have learned to respect.
This gives me the possibility to explore my (artistic) identity, creating works connected to my roots, but which is also influenced by the paths (or routes) I have been developing. Actually, I reuse elements of Portuguese traditional culture, mainly, because my aim is to use these elements is the creation of new art music - linking my personal memory with the final result.
Secondly, I consider it important to preserve and disclose those elements, reacting to a globalised world and showing the remaining differences in culture and collective identities. Through my day-to-day work, and with this project in particular, I seek a preservation of the cultural elements of the traditions presented in my memory. The aim is not that this memory should guide the way of being in the present and future, but to have a sense of the past, allowing the traditions to develop. In my opinion, the traditional elements that I deal with in this project represent the society that created them and which follows them. Therefore, I consider that their preservation and dissemination is crucial to know a society. Furthermore, their dissemination helps to understand the wide and varied set of elements that exist in societies, demonstrating the diversity that still exists, despite globalisation. It is, in my opinion, important to take special precautions to protect cultural diversity and pluralism from undifferentiated homogenization or standardization in order to ensure the recognition of cultural differences against all temptations to homogenization and uniform centralization. The significance of cultural diversity cannot be overstated, especially in the context of a “common European heritage”. The reality is that we are tasked with building an unprecedented and unparalleled sense of supranationality, which is founded on the principles of the rule of law, the rich tapestry of cultural diversity, the preservation of national sovereignty, the balancing of state and citizen/people legitimacy, the alignment of common goals with the changing economic and social landscape, and the creation of a truly supranational community.
Thirdly, I always have an educating and informative goal, both talking about Portuguese culture, or presenting (or discussing) the Portuguese cultural reality. For this, I also benefit from being in a country where I was not born, surrounded by people from all over Europe and other countries spread all over the world. This cultural diversity enables me to establish intercultural contacts, discussing and presenting cultural aspects that are characteristic of each other, as well as the elements in common. I think that this kind of exchange, which has been enriching my work, would not be possible if it was just a “little leap outside”.
Paisagem sonora (Soundscape)
estimated read time: 7 minutes
Since I first started composing when I was 16, I have been thinking “what can I offer the audience that is different from what other composers offer”? In my search for my artistic identity, I have understood that what makes me different from other composers is, at the same time, my roots and the routes I have taken, which results in the music I write. Therefore, I searched my cultural heritage for the elements that represent me. Perhaps this work also results in an innovation (or at least a continuation) of tradition, but what I wanted to do was to use those elements to innovate my music, my creative practice.
So I tried to look at traditional culture with an individual, unique perspective, based on sound studies (acoustemology and hearing cultures), bringing soundscapes as part of the elements to develop in artistic pieces. In my opinion, and although I consider melodies, rhythms, harmonies a very interesting raw material - which certainly influences me and will continue to do so in the creation of new works - there is an infinite number of possibilities for the treatment of other types of sound and cultural elements that could bring more interest to a work of art.
Furthermore, society is embedded in a cultural and sonic framework in which space, environment and other factors interact in the construction of the sonic result itself. Having the notion that art is influenced by culture, society, people and their history, I decided to investigate various parameters of the Portuguese culture (my culture), and understand what influences me and how is my response to that influence in my pieces (in the art I create). At the same time, I tried to discover other ways of integrating those influences in the pieces I write.
In this way, I aim for my works to be a reflection of the path I have been taking: my memory, the memories of my roots (festivities included), dialogue with my self, present at the moment of creation. I do not intend to represent a rooted place, but an idea of tradition that opens (or opened) a path(s) for me.
I would say that the innovative practice I adopt is the observation and reintegration of the sound and space of the culture and not only the use of melodies, rhythms, harmonies and typical instruments. The use of extra-musical elements (aspects) and the translation of atmospheres of events are some of the examples. I also try to integrate these elements both in a distinct and abstract way (as presented in the text on “ensaio para um s. joão”). The elements are deconstructed and merged with my (personal) compositional language.
Since the mid-20th century, an audio culture has been developed by “musicians, composers, sound artists, scholars, and listeners attentive to sonic substance, the act of listening, and the creative possibilities of sound recording, playback, and transmission”[134]. Since the 1990s, this culture has become particularly prominent and its academic study has witnessed a significant increase in “auditory history and anthropology led by social scientists who have turned their attention to sound as a marker of temporal and cultural difference” [135].
My music is very much influenced by this hearing-based perspective, where I try, on the one hand, to transcribe (or transpose) everyday situations into the pieces (like for example "(my) New York Times"), or I am influenced by those situations, using elements in the pieces I write, translating and developing those elements. I think this second way of seeing is easily perceptible in the works that are influenced by traditional festivities.
This way of looking at my music has led me to terms like “acoustic environment” ou “sonic landscape” (Voegelin 2010 e 2014), acoustemology (Feld 1982), landscape (Wishart 1986) and hearing culture (Erlmann 2004).
“Acoustemology”, a term created by Feld, seeks to perceive sound by joining acoustics and epistemology. The term emerged as a response to the “ethnomusicological identity crisis” and as an alternative to the debate between musicology and anthropology, imagining “an alternative to the classic triad of music in culture, music and culture, music as culture”[136].
The term “acoustics” on which “acoustemology” is based does not seek to analyse the physical components of sound, but to investigate it as a social and material experience, a “sonic sensation”. In relation to "epistemology", this involves the relationality of knowledge production (contextual and experiential knowledge)[137]. “Acoustemology” combines these two fields in order to examine “sounding and listening as a knowing-in-action: a knowing-with and knowing-through the audible”[138]. It concerns a “interactive process of participation and reflection” and “takes sound and sounding as ‘situational’ (Haraway 1988) among ‘related subjects’ (Bird-David 1999); it explores the ‘mutual’ (Buber 1923) and ‘ecological’ (Bateson 1972) space of sonic knowing as ‘polyphonic,’ ‘dialogical,’ and ‘unfinalizable’ (Bakhtin 1981, 1984)”[139]. Such knowledge coming from this type of approach is always “experiential, contextual, fallible, changeable, contingent, emergent, opportune, subjective, constructed, selective” [140].
“Acoustemology” differs from other approaches to sound, such as Murray Schafer's concept of soundscape, by combining “place-based space-time dynamics” with individual sound production and analysis. It also differs from "acoustic ecology" as it is based on “the experience and agency of listening histories, understood as relational and contingent, situated and reflexive” [141].
Thus, accustemology is based on the fundamental principle that life is shared with each other in relationships and that there are many different sources of action that “are variously human, nonhuman, living, nonliving, organic, or technological” [142].
The idea for this project is also based on Erlmann’s concept of “Hearing Cultures” which calls for a greater inclusion of non-visual sensory experience in ethnographic writing as “Hearing culture suggests that it is possible to conceptualize new ways of knowing a culture and of gaining deepened understanding of how the members of a society know each other”[143].
According to Carlos Alberto Augusto, portuguese composer and sound designer, “the soundscape is a key element in the identification of a place, a culture, a task” that allows us to know “its constitutive elements, how they interact, what is the function of each element”[144]. To represent that soundscape, it is necessary to listen to it, understand it and understand its historical perspective[145]. This is also what I tried to do throughout this project, focusing on the three celebrations already mentioned, and then looking for a use of the sound elements found in my music. These sounds, which together can be considered “noises”, are an integral part of the soundscape of these events.
To suggest the reality’s diversity and challenge the idea that it is a single reality, the artist listens and creates the landscape from the possibility of time and the possibility of space[146]. This project is inspired and informed by the invisible mobility of sound, which also invites the listener to enter layers of possibility to understand the construction of reality and participate in its reconstruction. The aim is to create a spatio-temporal world of what is possible and make it meaningful within established notions of actuality. I am not seeking that the soundscape be seen as something mystical or strange, but that it can have different points of view. It is possible to rethink and relive the real world through the different possibilities offered by soundscapes, which make “accessible, audible and thinkable, alternative states of affairs”, including non-objective emotions such as, for example, “affection, sentiment, fear, and angst”[147]. By listening to the different possibilities of a soundscape, as well as the different actors that originate different sounds, we can confront the “singularity of actuality” and present different perspectives of a place[148].
In this project, I focus on a particular kind of ‘acoustic environment’, traditional festivities, in order to better understand a culture and society, following, for example, the same path that Feld and Erlmand pursue[149], showing how listening to traditional events can influence the writing of new works and explaining how I sought to use that influence.
In the pieces present in this project, I sought to represent my analysis and auditory reflection to the soundscapes present in the festivities, within the social context where they are inserted. The motivation to write the pieces present in this study comes, also, from the desire to share my way of hearing the celebrations and the different ways of living them. With “ensaio para um s. joão” and “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão”, for instance, I looked for two different perspectives of the same festival. In “ensaio para um s. joão”, although I was influenced by several elements of St. John’s celebrations that appear throughout the festivities, I tried to represent St. John's Eve. In “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão”, starting from the idea of the rotation of the figure of St. John in the Avenida Central, my initial idea was to demonstrate different points of the festivity (Avenida Central, Parque da Ponte, Rua do Castelo, the surrounding churches, etc.) that end up combining in a unique soundscape of this celebration. Unique in two ways. First, this festival, in another city, would have other characteristics. Second, because the sound represented can only be heard in these celebrations.
It is difficult for me to explain in words what fascinates me about the sound of these parties. I am always afraid of falling into a too technical explanation of the composition process, and lack words to write the sound I hear. I use the sound elements present at the parties (the “sonic world”) to understand and translate their plural realities into the pieces, representing my vision of the space and time of the parties. I transcribe what I hear into my pieces, always looking for a personal artistic vision. And my analysis of the celebrations, often empirical, is worked in each one of the pieces. I try that these works represent my observation made in loco, but also that they represent my way of living each celebration. Certainly, from year to year, from celebration to celebration, my experience differs, although the traditional elements of the festivities remain the same.
As I will certainly be able to demonstrate when explaining each of the pieces, I also try to represent in the pieces the depth of the streets. Different perspectives, different group dynamics, different objects that give a new dimension both to the pieces and to the parties themselves. These perspectives are presented not only by dynamics, but also by dealing with small groups within an ensemble or orchestra, or by the attention and definition of the movements of each motif (rhythmic, melodic or timbric).
How I listen to the events
estimated read time: 9 minutes
I chose these events from the city of Braga, seeking inspiration for new pieces, due to the differences between the three events, but also due to the fact that they represent a temporal progression that happens every year, “to cycles that are repeated in community calendars”[150], and that are, in a way, connected to the ‘normal’ life of human living (or human festivity) [151]. The excitement of Carnival, preceding the penitence of Lent and the sorrow and hope of the resurrection (rebirth) of Easter and the celebration of life of summer (summer solstice, St John). These celebrations are linked to the cycles of the moon and sun and the confrontation between life and death (which are repeated with the resurrection, and summer celebration).
The festivities are chosen because of the relevance they have in my identity, and, also, the importance they represent for the city of Braga, revealing its culture and, consequently, my roots. Besides being important for the city's calendar, these festivals were, throughout the years, important landmarks in my way of seeing the annual calendar. Even today, I always try to be present at these events, travelling to Portugal on purpose.
Although I use elements mainly from essentially Christian celebrations, these do not represent my beliefs. Minho is a mostly Catholic region, where the Christian faith still carries a great importance in its traditions. As we can read in Leite, “Minho is deeply religious”, where people “always evoke the Saints in their sufferings and, more virtuous than sinful, unconsciously paganize them in their revelry”[152]. Therefore, I think I could not develop a project using cultural elements from Braga (which is also known as the “city of Archbishops”, or “Portuguese Rome” due to the amount of churches in the city and the religious connection of its inhabitants) without going through religious elements. Thus, it would be, in my opinion, impossible to represent the city of Braga in the pieces without going through the catholic representations so present in the city all year long.
From the research presented in the first part, regarding the question of what a tradition would be when compared to “routine” and “fashion”, it is shown that these festivals are indeed occasions with significant symbolism and a ritual function[153], having gone through a process of transmission over decades (in the case of the "Queima do Home") and centuries (St. John's Festival and Holly Week).
The Community dimension of the celebrations presented in this project can be enhanced by the very act of exteriorization through ostentatious gestures or their sonic expression through words, music, shouting, or singing. Celebration is a characteristic of all personal experiences, as well as a constant in all socio-cultural groupings.
Each of the celebrations that inspired me throughout this project (Queima do Home, Holy Week and St. John's festival) has a different sound. The “Queima do Home” marks the end of Carnival and the beginning of Lent. Before the parade starts, one can hear the sound of the drums (bombos) and buzinas and feel the excitement of the participants. During the parade, the shouts “Olha o home!” and “Lá vai o home!” are heard, as well as the slogan chosen for each year. You can hear gaitas, drums and snare drums, people talking, and the imitation of crying, due to the ‘mourning’ for the death of "Libório" (the puppet's name). When they arrive at the coreto (bandstand), on Avenida Central, after a few shouts, the testament is read. Every year this testament is different, although there are always mentions (in the form of gratitude) to the members of the Rusga de S. Vicente. The will always refers to events in the parish, the city of Braga, Portugal, Europe and the Rest of the World. In 2022, besides the references to Covid-19, there were already references to the Russian invasion of Ukraine - which had happened 4 days before this event. On the way to St. Vincent's Church, the “cries” and lamentations over the death of “Libório” intensify. The drums and buzinas are still heard, and people continue to shout the phrases written above. When the “puppets” are set on fire (in 2022 there were two, “Libório Caturra” and a smaller one), the “cries” intensify even more, and people shout out the phrases. At the end, the Rusga de S. Vicente offers pork, cornbread and vinho verde. And people socialise while eating and drinking.
The sound I hear during the festival results in the fact that the participants are looking for one last “madness” before the period of Lent, taking the opportunity until the last moment to have fun, and make noise (often the “noise” is sought, with buzinas, gaitas, drums and shouts). In the case of the “Queima do home”, although there are no melodies, songs, or harmonic/melodic instruments related to this tradition, there are still sound influences. Thus, I chose to represent in the piece “home(m)”, the sounds, movements and rhythms that can be heard.
The Holy Week in Braga presents us with different pictures during the Easter triduum. The main events, and where we observe a greater public adhesion, are the different processions. The way people experience the processions changes from each procession to another. Although Easter is traditionally a time of silence and introspection for Catholics, the procession on Thursday is quite noisy. Here you can hear the matracas played by the farricocos, as well as two philharmonic bands, one at the beginning and one at the end of the procession. Here, especially before and after the procession, you can also hear people in the audience talking to their relatives, friends or acquaintances in a relaxed way.
On the other hand, the Good Friday procession (“Procissão do Enterro do Senhor”) is much more contemplative. In the streets of Braga, where the procession passes, one feels a heavy atmosphere, of sadness for the death of the “saviour”, and of introspection. For me, this silence is deeply emotional. The farricocos no longer make their matracas sound, dragging them along the ground, as well as the religious banners. This is perhaps the most characteristic sound of the procession: the sound of metal dragging on the ground. Philharmonic bands play during the procession, but they always present darker pieces, funeral marches. All the elements that are part of the procession, as well as those who watch, are silent, often keeping their heads down.
The Easter Triduum ends with the “Visita Pascal”. On Sunday, with the “Visita Pascal” to the homes of the inhabitants of each village, town or city area, there is a sense of joy. It is a family reunion, where those who believe celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. In this tradition, besides the sound of families gathering in each house to receive the cross, the particular sound is that of the bells that indicate the approach of the “Visita Pascal” to the houses. The bells that some elements of the “Visita Pascal” bring to warn of its arrival, represent a rebirth, for me not in religious terms but in relation to nature and, in a way, always bring me some hope for the future.
On St. John’s the sun is celebrated, and joy is felt through the strong colours of the organisation and with the help of St. John’s martelos (plastic hammers). Because it is June, there is usually good weather. One can hear in the town's loudspeakers music allusive to the time (for example, the “Hino de S. João”), there are groups of drums (Zés Pereiras), and groups of people playing typical instruments of the region. Certainly there will be other elements (musical and others) that represent the Festival of S. João in Braga. In the pieces written for this project, I tried to use the elements that are, from my point of view, more characteristic of this celebration, which perhaps led to an intuitive process of choice of elements to develop in the pieces.
The traditions in Braga, as living traditions as they are, have been undergoing changes over the years. Here are some examples of changes carried out in recent years in the “Queima do Home”, as an example. Due to the satirical and current character of this tradition, there are elements that change from year to year, such as the “testament of Libório Caturra” - which always has humorous mentions about current affairs and, therefore, changes every year - and the posters, and the shouted “slogans”. Another change is that of the drum players. Instead of having informal groups of bombos, since 2019 there is an organised group that participates and opens the parade. A final example of a change I observed this year (2022) was the fact that they served the usual food and drink at the end of this event in the churchyard and not in the headquarters of the Rusga de S. Vicente. These changes are the result of various circumstances. In the case of the texts and slogans, the alteration is part of the identity of the event, changing every year. The last change was made in order to make the event more practical since the S. Vicente Rusga headquarters would not have space for all the participants.
In recent years, the festival of St. John in Braga has undergone a change that I consider important. During the days of the festival, there are small bars on the main streets of the celebration and each of these bars has speakers with the music of its choice (pop, electronic, popular, Brazilian funk, among other genres). The non-use in my pieces of elements of these songs that are heard at the feast, especially during the St. John’s eve, is due to the search for the difference that still exists in a global society like the one we live in today and these songs are the same - perhaps with the inclusion of one or another Portuguese or Brazilian song - that one would hear at any other party with young people across Europe, thus not being specific to this celebration.
In any of these events, I have a habit of walking alone, wandering through the streets where the celebrations take place and listening to the sound of the moment. It was always my intention to observe the festivities, looking for streets with different kinds of atmospheres (with more or less public) and different activities. I did that before writing the pieces about St. John’s festival and Holy Week. The only exception was the “Queima do Home” as I wrote the piece “home(m)” influenced and inspired by the descriptions I read in the book about Rusga de S. Vicente and from the Facebook lives, because I was in Belgium during this event. Only in the year 2020, I had the opportunity to observe in loco the way the festival took place and was organised. Whether it was by the development, natural, of a social celebration or by on-site observation with my own ears, this observation changed the way I see the “Queima do Home”. My inspiration for the pieces also comes from this. When composing the pieces in this project, I have always tried to bring that hearing into the music. I often use a tape recorder or my mobile phone to capture audio while I am walking around the festivals. Often I listen to these recordings during the composition process, where I try to capture different sounds, which I portray and develop in the pieces. Nevertheless, my aim was not to recreate the atmosphere of these events but to produce a personal look at the artistic result of the works.
In relation to St. John's, I tried to make sure that both religious and secular elements were present in the pieces. During my wanderings, I wrote down some keywords related to what I heard (such as bombos, sinos, for example), and I drew the routes I took. I kept the memories and the artistic, musical or merely technical ideas that the different elements present at the Festival offered me. At this point, I can remember the idea present in “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão”, of using the figure of the saint as a way to search for - and to unite - the different sounds present.
When I walk through the streets of Braga during the celebrations, I try to get involved in the acoustic environment present in them. Every year, either because there are changes in the organisation of the festive spaces, or because of the influence of the individual dynamics of each participant or the weather, this acoustic environment is different. For example, in 2022, the St. John's Festival had less joy in the streets due to the rainy and cold weather. This was also reflected in the way people walked through the streets, and in the number of participants in the festival.
Examples of the use of traditional elements in the pieces written in this project
estimated read time: 7 minutes
For a detailed analysis of the pieces please read this
Having the aim of transposing the aural environment of the festivals into pieces, my attention is focused on the sound, as a whole, i.e. on the overall - not individual - sonic end result. I think that the usual focus on the primary elements (perhaps most easily perceived, such as melodies, rhythms, harmonies, typical instruments) in a piece is particularly limiting from an artistic point of view. Perhaps we forget what gives festivals their greatest strength: the people and their way of being in the celebration. By writing in this way, I aim to show new perspectives and ways of watching and experiencing these festivities, based on my perception of them and the artistic development that comes from this search/research.
As the pieces I wrote are not electronic, acousmatic pieces, the compositional process, working the sound and recreating it in a score, becomes more abstract. I work these elements as I do any other, because I seek my own language, independently of the influences that lead me to write a piece. This is, in my opinion, one of the important points of this project. The personal, artistic vision of a traditional event, allied to the creation of a piece to be presented on stage - a completely different environment compared to the traditional festivals.
I would say that I have two distinct ways of using traditional elements in my music. The first, which I consider more elementary, is the clear, not very abstract use of melodies, rhythms, harmonies or traditional objects in the works. Even if they are minimally artistically worked, they are easily perceptible. During all the days of Braga’s St. John Festival, the “Hino do S. João de Braga” can be heard throughout the speakers of the city in different versions (from folk versions, to pop music versions, to the version for philharmonic band). On June 23rd and 24th, the philharmonic bands present in the celebration interpret this hymn in the streets and on the stages where they perform. In "braga: à [b]olta do s. joão" I tried to create a different version of the melody and harmony, with different perspectives. First, the melody is presented on the brass instruments with a different harmonization from the original, seeking a junction between the traditional melody and my musical language. The same melody appears in the final chorale, the coda of the piece, which is sung by the instrumentalists. For this part, I tried to allow some freedom of interpretation that is characteristic of the vocal tradition of music in Minho.
The second form is more abstract. It can also contain the elements presented above (melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, ...) but these are used as starting points in the creation, often with an imperceptible sound result. There is also the interest in (re)creating the musical atmospheres lived in the festivities. This element can also be used in any of the forms presented above, depending on the artistic and sonic result (more or less abstract).
Each composition was seen as an experiment, and therefore each piece written reacts in some way to the previous piece. This can be seen most clearly in the pieces related to St. John’s festival. My approach was different in each of the pieces due to different factors like instrumentation, the identity of the musicians who would perform, and the audience who would listen to their premiere (“ensaio para um s. joão” was premiered in Antwerp by the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, and “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão” was premiered in a Wind Band competition in Braga, where fifteen bands from different socio-cultural backgrounds performed the piece).
In “ensaio para um s. joão” I tried a more abstract approach to the festival elements, where some of the elements used were more blended in the orchestra, making it difficult to be recognized. An example of this is the melody of “Mourisca”, where only very attentive ears or people with knowledge of the score could perceive the quote. In “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão”, the melody of the “Hino de S. João” is presented in different ways, both easily perceptible, as previously mentioned.
Sometimes these two ways of using the elements are found in the same piece. This adds dimension, not only to the artistic thought of the work but - and certainly more importantly - to its sonic outcome.
The elements that I have been using in my pieces represent my way of observing the festivals, searching for their characteristic sound. For example, the use of the St. John's martelos is a result of that search. Although they do not originate from this event, they are also a symbolic element of Braga’s Festival of St John.
I used the typical martelos of St. John both in “ensaio para um s. joão” and “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão”, developing their sound in the orchestra. The use of different objects (such as toys) in musical works has been known at least since the 18th century. In the “Kinder-Symphonie”, which was thought to have been written by J. Haydn and which recent research indicates that was written by Edmund Angerer[154], we find, for example, a toy trumpet, ratchet, bird calls (cuckoo, nightingale and quail) and triangle. One of my influences in the use of martelos (“ensaio para um s. joão” and “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão”) and matracas (in "do lume que pesa"), as well as other objects and “accessories” in percussion, is “Experimentum Mundi”, a piece by G. Battistelli where we find as performers different types of craftsmen (knife grinders, pastry makers, builders, blacksmiths, stone masons, carpenters, cobblers, and coopers).
By using elements such as martelos and matracas I also try to transport the audience to the events I present. Certainly, these elements can make the pieces more attractive to the audience, due to such a peculiar object, both for those who know the festival (and the object) - like the audience attending the premiere of “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão” in Braga - and for those who do not - like the large part of the audience in Antwerp at the premiere of “ensaio para um s. joão”. Nevertheless, my aims in using this object in the pieces were, first, to present the celebrations and their typical objects as well as their sonority and, secondly, a challenge I launched to myself to use them as musical elements, merging them in my music. During the process of composition of the two works, I considered that I could not represent the Braga St. John’s Festival them, due to the specific sonority created by their use in the festivities.
The use of these objects, highly characteristic of these festivals, makes it easier for people who know them to identify with them and also to identify the influences present in the piece. Thus, the visual aspect of the pieces is also central to their understanding, as the researcher S. Voegelin states that “If I look at something the information I will gain about that thing is influenced by the physiological mechanism of looking and the cultural interpretation and valuation of seeing”[155]. But these visual images are also accompanied by sound elements so that there is a combination of hearing and vision in the appreciation of the work. I used the sound result in different situations to deceive the listener and dissimulate the different elements used. For example, in “do lume que pesa”, I developed sonic objects from the auditory analysis of the “fire” that I tried to make them result in a metamorphosis combined with the elements of the matracas.
These extremely rich textures in Braga’s St. John or Holy Week, need to be presented (and represented) by the different layers, which merge with each other and give a new reality to the celebration present in the work created. The processing of these elements - this fusion and, sometimes, subtraction or division - seeks to challenge the perception of the listener or viewer, giving another perspective of the represented celebration. It allows us to expand the auditory perception of the celebration, broadening horizons and escaping from the reductive categorization of the same, and, at the same time, relating it to the time when the celebration was studied (inspiring the writing of the work), thus giving the artistic result a perspective that is as contemporary as possible.
It seems logical to me but, anyway, perhaps it is necessary to make this clear: what is in the pieces I write, what one hears as an end result, are not the festivals themselves, but a vision - transformed, as a work of art. It is a perspective. Admittedly, it has elements that might connect the artwork to the festival itself. The use of these elements is assumed and intentional. But the aim is not to create little sound “documentaries”, but to create works of art to be listened to.
The idea is not to preserve the sound of the festivals - in the sense that I expect the sound of the festivals to change over the years, following the changes in society. So I hope that my pieces - these and others that I will certainly write in the future - will demonstrate these sound changes in traditional festivals. With this, I seek the plural possibilities that the different festive environments, and the different soundscapes created there, may offer. In this way, my artistic interpretation of these elements (at the time I wrote the pieces), is preserved in the works.
This work may fail in its aim of transmitting the elements of the celebrations to a wider public, but at least it will help to preserve the elements present (or at least the memory of them), helping us to keep aware of the diversity existing not only when comparing these celebrations with others in another European country, but also in Portugal.
Visuals in my music
estimated read time: 1 minute
In the pieces I wrote for this project, although my focus was the sound result, I tried to represent on stage visual elements of the festivals. In “ensaio para um s. joão” and “braga: à [b]olta do s. joão” the use of the hammer in the pieces has this purpose. The instrumentalists are asked to hit the martelos on the head of the colleagues next to them, representing what happens at St. John’s festival. In “ensaio para um s. joão” initially only the martelos are heard (the percussionists play the hammers behind the other percussion instruments so that the hammers are not seen). These hammers are progressively more visible until the end of the piece, which ends, in an attempt on my part to create some humor, with the use of “Mahler's hammer”. Still in “ensaio para um s. joão”, I asked the string players (violins and violas) to play the pizzicattos of the piece as if they were holding a cavaquinho - in an attempt to demonstrate a representation of King David’s dance. In "do lume que pesa", matracas are used so that the audience can see. Finally, in the public performance of “home(m)”, I asked the instrumentalists to throw to the floor the pages they had just played, in order to present some chaos present in “Queima do Home”.
Elements of my music
In the last years, during this research, I realised that “silence” and “noise” were common and fundamental elements in my music. Below I explain how I use them and the reasons for doing so.
Silence
estimated read time: 2 minutes
Silence can represent different states of mind: it can contain an aura of wisdom or be linked to authoritarianism and fear, political or of loss, “the silence of the deceased”[156]. It can also be a form of communication, of interest, suspicion or distrust[157]. The “silence-fear”, in Portugal, is a legacy of centuries of structures of a political-religious nature, which have their defining moments with the Inquisition and censorship during the Estado Novo. In a way, and despite the fact that almost five decades have passed since the end of the Estado Novo, this culture of "silence-fear" is still very present in some sectors of Portuguese culture[158]. According to Augusto, the silence present in the Portuguese soundscape “is the space of secret societies, of the secrets of religions and political associations”, but also the “space of resignation to anonymous, individual and collective suffering, of frustration, shame and poverty, of indignity and injustice”, of “crime, the forbidden, conspiracy”, of solitude, illness, death and mourning[159].
In my pieces, I essentially use “silence” as a form of reflection, mourning and pain, and in a more technical aspect, as a reaction element to the tension in the pieces. The silence that I use is influenced by moments of reflection during masses, by the “silence” of nature that I heard when I would visit my grandmother in Bouro Santa Maria and by my search for inner peace and constant reflection. The silence that I write in my pieces is, therefore, a silence full of sounds that are not present, a reflection of sounds that have been heard and the hope for sounds that will be heard. In “do lume que pesa”, for example, after the climax of the piece there is a moment of silence (c. 20 seconds). This “silence” in the piece serves three interconnected purposes. The first, is a reaction to the tension created earlier, being used as a transition into the new part of the piece. The second, is to create, on the other hand, tension by the lack of sounds produced by the ensemble and electronics. This tension, in the piece's premiere - or when a piece is not known to the listening audience - is even greater, since the audience does not know if the piece has finished and there is an almost eagerness to clap, becoming an uncomfortable silence. Last but not least, and thought almost at the same time, this silence tries to represent the introspection that exists in the procession of Good Friday in the celebrations of Holy Week in Braga.
Noise
estimated read time: 4 minutes
According to different dictionaries, “noise” can be defined as a “sound, especially of a loud, harsh, or confused kind”[160] or an “unwanted” and “unpleasant” sound[161]. The elements of traditional culture that I used in this project can be perceived, in the events in which they appear, as “noise”. The matracas (link), martelos (link) or the people’s shouts (link home) are examples of this. In my music I try to introduce these sounds in a way that they are no longer considered “noise” and are seen as essential musical elements to the piece.
I am influenced by the idea of an orchestra of noise, or, if we want, by the interaction of that kind of sonorities with the orchestra that is traditionally linked to classical music. I started to use those ideas following the influences of the music I heard from the beginning of my activity as a composer (from Varese to the electronic music of, among many others, Pierre Schaeffer and, in another scale, Miguel Azguime), as well as by the guidance of my composition teachers (André Ruiz, Filipe C. Vieira and Wim Henderickx). In recent years, this search has developed, mainly through the influence of Nuno Costa and Clara Iannotta. In reality, the point I am looking for is nothing new (as a lot of literature from the beginning of the 20th century, with Russolo, to nowadays shows), but during the last years, I have realized that this combination makes perfect sense for my music - and for this project.
Perhaps I can, here, make a counterpoint between the electronic music I create and the instrumental music because I believe it was also this dichotomy in the compositional process that brought me where I am. In electronic music - both in acousmatic music and in combination with acoustic instruments - since the beginning I have tried to use sound elements from the world around me, recording those sounds and working them musically, perhaps influenced by musique concrète. As a result, I have been improving the way of working these elements musically and artistically, in order to achieve the final result that I wanted for each piece. In instrumental music, there has been - with a notorious development over the years - exactly the same search. The instrumental music - if we want, my instrumental music - must, therefore, demonstrate not only musical ideas based on melodic, rhythmic or harmonic questions, but focus on the creation of sounds that can be perceptible in everyday life. The noise I use is just that. I would not be proud of my work if, in seeking to use the sound of a culture or a social celebration, I did not use other artistic potentialities both in relation to the individual instruments and the orchestra (or band, or ensemble) as a whole.
Therefore, I always try to introduce different sound elements that can transport us to the atmosphere of the celebration which inspires the creation of a certain piece. These elements (melodic, rhythmic, harmonic and even objects/instruments) bring an enormous sonic complexity to the celebration and, therefore, should be present in the pieces I write. I could, of course, focus on one or another aspect, but, due to the attempt to represent the 'sound world' of the celebration, my aim was to analyse and present the elements that give identity to the festivity. Thus, only after these steps (analysis and presentation of the elements) is it possible for me to start developing the sound elements in the piece - which are usually developed (or changed) during the compositional process.
I always try to frame the “noises” that I use in my music. In fact, I don't see them as noises, which can have a connotation of unwanted sounds, but, and due to the way I involve them in the music, I see them as a natural development of the sound that inspires me.
These “noises” that I use in my pieces are always crafted and have the goal to better represent the soundscapes as they really are.
I cannot represent “my world”, my everyday life, or even my thoughts, only with beautiful melodies and harmonies that resolve correctly. My “self” has fears, nervousness, moods and happiness that can be represented by much more diverse, and in my opinion interesting, elements than the basic elements of music (harmony, melody and rhythm). The different timbres, give me the possibility to better present the different particularities of the sound that surrounds me and the way I think about them.
For me, the festivals could not be presented without the use of the sounds that are present in them. The martelos, the matracas, the voices of people and the attempt to demonstrate the atmosphere of each party are for me crucial elements for my vision of the celebrations to be presented in a more trustworthy way.
There are many pieces where I use more than instrumental interpretative techniques. I see the instrumentalist and his/her instrument as one. For example, in “home(m)” and “do lume que pesa”, the instrumentalists have instructions to talk (saying “olha o home” and “lá bai o home” in “home(m)”) or to reproduce sound with their mouths (repetition of “r”, imitating the sound of matracas, in “do lume que pesa”). When I write for an instrumentalist or instrument group, with or without electronics, I think of the performers as a whole. The search for a sound, in my music, is made from the sound created by all those who produce the sound in the piece. In the case of pieces for an instrumentalist, like “i [w]ill meet you by the sea” (2018), for trumpet, or “[prelude:nocturne]” (2017), for violinist, my search is exactly the same. The instrumentalist becomes, also, an instrument in itself. The search for “extended techniques” is also done by looking for other kinds of sonorities that the instrument can reproduce and that better represent the musical idea. Although this way of seeing the role of the instrumentalist has already brought me some problems in rehearsal - not all musicians feel comfortable with non-instrumental techniques -, I like the idea of stimulating artistic development, using techniques created and developed by other composers, working them according to my artistic thinking.
Titles
estimated read time: 1 minutes
Anyone who knows me in my private life, whether a family member, friend, or even acquaintance, knows that most of the jokes I tell are word games. This also happens in the titles of my pieces, where I always try to show different meanings in the same name. There are many names of works that, in a more or less clear way, present this aspect. For example, the piece "quatro poeMas", for solo clarinet, presents the capital "M" as a way to dedicate the piece to Mafalda. Also, the name "ensaio para o s. joão" has several reasons for its choice since the word "ensaio" in Portuguese can have different meanings: among them "experience" or "first attempt", "rehearsal", and "essay". As for "pranto", the name was created before I started writing the piece, by superposing the words "preto" (black) and "branco" (white), since the project for which I wrote the piece was called "Diálogo a Preto e Branco" (which later resulted in the CD "Lux et Umbra").
Another element which is very present in the names of the pieces I wrote is the way of speaking Braga. In "braga: à [b]olta do s. joão", volta (as the word should be written) is written with a b, because it is usual in the Minho region (Braga included) to exchange the "b's" for "v's".
The same goes for "home(m)". As we can see here, the name itself has 3 different names. "Home", house in English; "homem", man in Portuguese; and "home", the way many people say the word "man" in this region of Portugal.