Biography
PhD Student in Medieval Studies, integrated at Instituto de Estudos Medievais. Develops the doctoral thesis on Musical Instruments and the Music of Portuguese al-Andalus – a contribution from archaeomusicology, with funding from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (ref. UI/BD/152799/2022). Master’s Degree in Musical Arts (Music and Technology) - FCSH, Lisbon (2015). Guitar Performance Diplom - Trinity College London (2013). Musical Arrangements Diplom - Taller de Musics, Barcelona (1991).
Research areas: Archaeomusicology, Medieval Music, Medieval Musical Instruments, al-Andalus, Middle Ages, Archaeology, Ethnomusicology, Intangible Heritage. Initiated music studies in 1984 and studied at Taller de Musics of Barcelona from 1988 to 1991. Attended between 1986 and 1991 workshops and courses in Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Hungary. He studied with musicians such as Zé Eduardo, John Abercrombie, José Luis Gamez, Frank Tiberi, Emanuel Nunes, Ernie Wilkins, Louis Stewart, Tommy Halferty, and Steve Brown.
Keeps uninterrupted activity as a musician and teacher since 1991 when became harmony teacher at Hot Clube´s Lisbon Jazz School and resident musician in the TV contest “Tal Pai Tal Filho”. Alexandre has worked with hundreds of musicians and in an equal scale of concerts, performances, pedagogical actions and recordings such as “Rock in Rio 2010“ and “Adagio” yogurts TV commercials. Trinity College London Exams pedagogical coordinator at the schools Músicos Associados and ArtMúsica. Guitar, Harmony, Combo and Musical Theory teacher at JBJazz school (Lisbon) between 2003 and 2018.
Doctoral Project
Title
Musical Instruments and the Music of Portuguese al-Andalus – a contribution from archaeomusicology
Advisors
Manuel Pedro Ramalho Ferreira and Catarina Maria Santos Guerra Tente
Abstract
Research in the field of music and its instruments in the Middle Ages has been based on written and iconographic sources originating from sculpture or representations in various manuscripts. These sources, however, only emerge with sufficient integrity from the 13th-14th centuries. Although, archaeology has progressively been providing us with more data, greater quantity, and rigor in sources. Nevertheless, the musical instruments recovered in these contexts have only occasionally been identified and thoroughly studied. Indeed, concerning the periods up to the 13th century, it has only been in the last three decades that archaeology has been punctually and gradually articulated with ethnomusicology, particularly regarding the Islamic period in Portugal. In this sequence, and under the interdisciplinary approach associated with archaeomusicology, it becomes relevant to raise questions and explore new directions. What archaeological vestiges of musical instruments in the context of Portuguese al-Andalus have actually been recovered, and what are their archaeological origins? What is their organology, agents, practices, functions, and correlated contemporary contexts? What is the influence of these instruments and their associated practices on the production of intangible heritage and collective memory in contemporary times? In order to fill these gaps and answer these questions, the present project focuses on the musical instruments unearthed in the context of Portuguese al-Andalus. Through archaeomusicology, we aim for new directions beyond the study and interpretation of the musical instrument per se. Not only is its study intended, but also its articulation with iconography, historiography, treatises, and other contemporaneous sources. Thus, within the proposed chrono-spatial delimitation and aspiring to a more profound understanding of the medieval man's worldview, this project aims to generate new in-depth knowledge about music, its practices, instruments, functions, and contexts.
Keywords: Archaeomusicology, Medieval Music, Medieval Musical Instruments, al-Andalus
Funding: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, ref. UI/BD/152799/2022
