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GIEHCM Seminar | Fado in 19th century Brazil: A reassessment of a forgotten practice in light of new historical evidence
PERMANENT SEMINAR IN HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES IN MUSIC
The Permanent Seminar of the research group Historical and Cultural Studies in Music of INET-md intends to be a forum where all its members (integrated and collaborators), as well as other invited researchers from the academic, cultural and artistic circles, may present their work and discuss ongoing projects and research.
21-03-2024 | 6 pm | Colégio Almada Negreiros, NOVA FCSH | Room 209 - Floor 2
Free access, in person and online:
Zoom Room
Meeting ID: 938 7881 8576Pass code: 632731
Fado in 19th century Brazil: A reassessment of a forgotten practice in light of new historical evidence
Rui Vieira Nery | INET-md, NOVA FCSH
A significant number of historical sources has long been identified, undoubtedly establishing that the first recorded manifestations of the practice of Fado as a sung dance took place in colonial Brazil in the early years of the 19th century, prior to the arrival of the genre in Lisbon, in the late 1820s. It was generally believed, however, that Fado had gradually disappeared from the main urban centres in Brazil immediately following its establishment in Portugal, and that only its Portuguese lineage had survived. A systematic survey of Brazilian 19th-century periodicals and literature, nevertheless clearly demonstrates that Fado remained one of the most relevant genres of Brazilian popular music throughout that period, both in the rural areas of Bahia, Minas Gerais and São Paulo, and in the urban context of Rio de Janeiro, all the way to the beginnings of the 20th century. Deeply rooted in the African-Brazilian communities, and as such constantly under the strict vigilance of the police and the authorities as a potentially subversive practice, Fado quickly expanded into the white middle-class salons and in the second half of the century even became an essential component of the music theatre. At the turn of the century, under the influence of the newly arrived contingents of black migrants from Bahia, it ultimately was one of the various established Afro-Brazilian traditions, such as the Lundu, the Cateretê or the Maxixe, that converged into the new genre of Samba at the outset of the 20th century. And this process coincided with the arrival of the Portuguese Fado to Brazil, brought by migrants from Portugal who established themselves in the poor neighbourhoods of Rio de Janeiro starting already in the 1870s.
Rui Vieira Nery | Born in Lisbon in 1957. He holds a Licentiateship in History from the Lisbon University and a PhD in Musicology from The University of Texas at Austin. He is currently an Associate Professor at the New University of Lisbon and an Advisor to the Board of Trustees of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, where he served for several years as Cultural Director. He is the author of a vast bibliography covering his various areas of research, which range from Iberian and Latin-American Early Music to Portuguese and Brazilian Popular Music studies and to issues related to the contemporary debate on public cultural policies. Amongst other distinctions he is a Commander of the Order of Prince Henry, and received the Gold Medal of the City of Lisbon, the University of Coimbra Prize, the University of Texas Distinguished Alumnus Award and the Intangible Heritage Award of the International Centre for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, and he is a member to the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, the Portuguese History Academy, the National Academy of Fine Artes and the Navy Academy, as well as of the Portuguese and Brazilian PEN Club and of the European Cultural Parliament.
