Music, arts, science and the decolonisation of history
Music, arts, science and the decolonisation of history
Teatro Garcia de Resende
20 May / 18:00
by historian SANJAY SETH, followed by a debate with musicologist JOÃO PEDRO CACHOPO, and art historian MARIANA PINTO DOS SANTOS

History is assumed as a universally valid discipline, capable of revealing what the past of any world region was like. However, in recent decades, postcolonial criticism has drawn attention to the situated nature of all knowledge and, in particular, of knowledge produced by History and Social Sciences. Against this background, historian Sanjay Seth has recently explored the challenges posed by music, art or science to the discipline of History and some of its fundamental assumptions. We invited musicologist and philosopher João Pedro Cachopo and historian Mariana Pinto dos Santos to join him in a conversation. The moderator is historian Luís Trindade.

SANJAY SETH

Professor at Goldmsiths College, University of London.

JOÃO PEDRO CACHOPO

Researcher at CESEM/IN2PAST.

MARIANA PINTO DOS SANTOS

Researcher at IHA/IN2PAST.

LUÍS TRINDADE

Professor at the University of Coimbra.
From Cuba to Cuba: from the Alentejo to the Caribbean
From Cuba to Cuba: from the Alentejo to the Caribbean
Teatro Garcia de Resende - Salão Nobre
21 May / 16:00
with CATARINA LARANJEIRO and JOSÉ NEVES
Organized with the Associated Laboratory IN2PAST

In the early 1950s, in the Alentejo, more specifically in the Cuba region, Amílcar Cabral wrote his end-of-course monograph on the problem of soil erosion in that region. Already as an agricultural engineer, he would later travel to Guinea to work for the colonial State, later committing himself to the struggle against the Portuguese Empire, mobilizing a variety of international support, among which, from the mid-1960s, Cuba’s support stood out. This support included a military element, but also cultural education, namely in the field of cinema. In this conference, which will include the exhibition of documents, photographs, and archival films, we propose a transnational journey through the second half of the 20th century.

CATARINA LARANJEIRO

Researcher at the IHC/IN2PAST.

JOSÉ NEVES

Researcher at the IHC/IN2PAST.
Cante as a place for the future
Cante as a place for the future
Teatro Garcia de Resende - Salão Nobre
24 May / 18:00
with AMÍLCAR VASQUES DIAS, JOÃO MATIAS and PATRÍCIA PORTELA moderated by GONÇALO FROTA

Inclusion on the representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity entails a responsibility to preserve the music and cultures on that list. Because UNESCO’s selection is not intended to be a repository of manifestations passed down in History, but rather an active commitment to preserving traditions that may be able to persist through time. Preservation, however, should not be viewed as a prison for “embalming” living genres. It should enable them to create new declensions and find new ways to stay relevant. In the case of Alentejo’s polyphonic choral singing, some recent attempts to create new repertoire make one consider the courses that this genre can follow, allowing it to extend and rethink itself rather than simply duplicating the genre’s image of itself. Survival, after all, is dependent on continuing to make sense to new interpreters and creators.

JOÃO MATIAS

Coordinator of Museu do Cante; he has a degree in Social Anthropology; he worked as a teacher, directed the newspaper “Diário do Alentejo” and collaborated with other Portuguese and Brazilian publications; he was responsible for the Culture, Sports and Education sections at the Municipality of Serpa.

AMÍLCAR VASQUES-DIAS

Composer and pianist; he has completed his high- er studies in Piano and Composition, was awarded a scholarship by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and completed his degree in Composition at the Royal Conserva- tory in The Hague (Netherlands). His works have been performed in halls and festivals around the world, and he has worked on the relationship with traditional music, particularly with Cante Alentejano, in the project “Entre Cante e Piano” [Between Cante and Piano].

PATRÍCIA PORTELA

Author of several performances and literary works; she graduated in Performing Arts, completed a master’s degree in Scenography and Spatial Dramaturgy, and a post-graduation in Performance and Theatricality. Her literary and theatrical works have been awarded several prizes; she was director of Teatro Viriato; in 2022, as part of Futurama, she wrote lyrics for the Cante group “Os Moços da Aldeia”.
Presentation “Inscription of Creole Cultures to the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO”
Presentation “Inscription of Creole Cultures to the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO”
Teatro Garcia de Resende - Salão Nobre
26 May / 19:00
By the official delegation of Seychelles - DAVID ANDRE, PATRICK VICTOR, MARC LINTS

From an initiative of the National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts of the Seychelles, an application advocating the inclusion of creole cultures on UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage is under way. Unlike the usual proposals that focus on cultural expressions specific to a particular region, in this case it is a Creole identity - common to several geographies - that wishes recognition of its specificity and the richness of its common heritage. The valorization of this culture, with effects and marks in areas as distinct as education, architecture, entrepreneurship, environment, urban planning, housing, immigration, arts, gastronomy, etc., shared by several communities, is at the heart of this rightful claim. And that involves us the certainty that cultures are not bounded by lines drawn on a map.

DAVID ANDRE

Secretary General of the Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts and Mayor of Victoria.

PATRICK VICTOR

Cultural Ambassador.

MARC LINTS

Advisor to the Seychelles Secretary General’s Office.
An(other) Art of Existence: Vagar
An(other) Art of Existence: Vagar
Teatro Garcia de Resende - Salão Nobre
27 May / 16:30
by PAULA MOTA GARCIA, coordinator of the Mission Team Évora_27 European Capital of Culture

How can a European Capital of Culture propose an answer for the future of humanity? How can culture, as a way of being and existing specific to the people of a southern European territo­ ry, be a place of departure and arrival to rethink the relationship of humanity with everything around it? How can this mission re­position an entire cul­ tural legacy in the world? Questioning, provoking, sharing solutions – this is the essence of Évora_27 inspired by the Alentejo’s VAGAR, asserting it as
a principle for coexistence until 2027 and beyond.
Conversation with director Tony Gatlif
Conversation with director Tony Gatlif
Teatro Garcia de Resende - Salão Nobre
27 May / 18:00
introduction by MICHEL WINTER - manager and music producer

Born Michel Dahamani in 1948 in Algeria, son of Spanish­-origin Romani parents, he would later adopt the artistic name Tony Gaftlif. After a rebellious youth spent in France, he found in cinema the means to tell his stories, which were frequently intertwined with narratives about the Roma people and their culture, particularly music. If these themes emerged in his first works, Corre Gitano and Les Princes, they were always close at hand and became the center of the “gypsy trilogy” that has definitely established him on the international circuit – it began with Latcho Drom, a documentary on Roma music that won the Un Certain Regard prize at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. The second film in the trilogy (finished with Mondo) would be Gadjo Dilo, his most popular work to date, the story of a young Frenchman who falls in love with the voice of a gypsy singer and travels to Romania to find her (replicating the director’s journey to find his origins). Cannes would crown him again with the Best Director Award, thanks to the autobiographical film Exils (2004). Assuming that words alone would not be enough to disarm prejudices, Tony Gatlif has turned to music and film to defend Roma people and culture ­- as a celebration that reflects all of its exuberance, viscerali­ty, and complexity.