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PhD Student
Departamento de Comunicação e Arte | Universidade de Aveiro
Campus Universitário de Santiago
3810-193 Aveiro
Portugal
Tel: (+351) 234 370 389 (ext. 23700)

Biography

Felipe Barão is a Ph.D. candidate in Ethnomusicology at the University of Aveiro (DeCA-UA), where he completed his master's degree in the same field. He is a doctoral fellow of the Fund for Science and Technology and a researcher at Inet-md. He was also a master's fellow in the project "EcoMusic - Sustainable Practices: a study on post-folklorism in Portugal in the 21st century" (INET-md/UA). His research focuses on plucked string instruments, with an emphasis on wire-strung violas". He is a documentary filmmaker, including the autoethnographic "Tell Me, Viola!" and curated musical instrument exhibitions between 2021 and 2023, such as "A Viola Toeira", "O Guitarrinho de Coimbra", and "Instrumentos para Memória Futura", in collaboration with the Cultural Association Museum of Music in Coimbra. He has an active artistic career as a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and music producer.

 

 
Doctorial Project
 
Title

"Viola de arame portuguesa: memórias sociais e singulares de um instrumento-arquivo e perspetivas pós-revivalismo"

 

 
Advisor
 
 
Co-advisor
Thomas Caracas Garcia
 

 

 
Abstract
This project focuses on new approaches to the study of musical instruments, with a specific emphasis on the Portuguese wire-strung viola. This plucked hand-held chordophone underwent revitalization processes in the last quarter of the 20th century. I aim to develop a study on the relationships between the musicalized wire-strung violas, which served as references for the initial revitalization processes, and contemporary wire-strung violas, identifying tensions between the past and the future. Therefore, I draw on concepts such as "instrument-archive," (Rancier 2014) which refers to the ability of musical instruments to store social and individual memories, and I emphasize the agency of these objects that engage with those who build and play them. To achieve this, I will conduct this study at the Museu Nacional da Música and dialogue with current instrument builders and musicians. The goal is to provide a new perspective on Portuguese wire-strung violas in the 21st century.