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A viagem dos sons / The Journey of Sounds
Listen to tracks from the series while you read
Background
This symposium-like approach has the same weakness as a real symposium, namely the unfortunate trend of some academics to use any invitation to advance overly specialized personal interests tangentially related to the overall topic. Most egregious are Samuel Araujo, whose Brasil disc, rather than looking at the many musical influences left by the Portuguese in Brasil, instead focuses on a street drama tradition peculiar to the northeastern part of the nation (and resulting in a particularly inaccessible disc of music divorced from the complex visual and dramatic context from which it springs) and Rosa Clara Neves, who does the same with a street theater tradition in São Tome. However, these are the only two who really miss the mark in their task (and this is not to say that their discs are uninteresting; on the contrary they are fascinating; they simply do not provide a wide enough range for the listener who knows nothing of the music of São Tome or Brasil to get a feel for how the Portuguese influenced these lands musically).
Overall a viagem dos sons is a winner: mixing the obvious (for instance the well known morna tradition of Cabo Verde) with startlingly beautiful musics little known outside of their native regions. Even the weakest discs offer something to the listener willing to put in the time and to give the music proper attention. As with other Tradisom discs, the notes are exceedingly academic and vary in quality. Some are the epitome of good ethnomusicological writing, others are sprinkled with unnecessary jargon. The English translations are generally poor, riddled with spelling errors, but not to the point of being unintelligible. Two simple additions that would have improved the set would have been the inclusion of maps to show where these various regions are and side by side translations so that the listener can follow the lyrics without having to thumb between pages to see them in English and Portuguese (most of the songs in various creoles of Portuguese are posted on the same pages as the Portuguese, but not on the same page as the English).
Measuring Portuguese musical influences requires first defining that which makes music sound specifically Portuguese as opposed to merely Western or European. The most obvious traits have to do with instruments: the cavaquinho (known more commonly in North America by its Hawaiian name ukulele), the Portuguese guitarra, and other instruments (mostly chordophones) that proclaim musica portuguesa. However, one may define a specific sound of Portuguese music outside of the realm of instrumentation. Without getting into details (our editor made us promise to avoid Roman numeral harmonic analyses here), obvious traits are use of minor modes (Portuguese music carries as part of its genetic code the music of the Eastern Mediterranean as well as the church modes found in Gregorian chant), particularly lyrical melodies, and a feeling of longing, best expressed in the untranslatable term saudade.
An interesting side-note is the role of double influence, where a music culture is influenced by the same tradition coming into the region both from the originating culture as well as from the Portuguese, who picked up the same influence elsewhere. A prominent example of this is the Arabic influence found in the music of Sumatra. Perso-Arabic influence came in from the Islamic missionaries who converted the Malay king in the 15th Century, but since these influences play a prominent role in Portuguese music, the web of influence grows tangled. This complex interaction of influences points to a logical follow-up project for Tradisom: how these various cultures left their indelible mark on Portuguese music.
Some specific notes on each disc (with links to some audio samples):
Indian Subcontinent
The weakness of this disc is that it only features the music of one ensemble, Govana. The listener who is unfamiliar with Goan music must wonder if the arrangements and stylings are typical of all Goan Catholic music or if there are other approaches to the same repertoire. Also, there is nothing in the notes to tell us whether or not there is significant Portuguese musical influence among the Hindu or Islamic segments of the Goan population (64.6% and 4.1%, respectively).
The second section of this disc is a recreation of songs recorded more than thirty years ago on Vypeen Island, Cochin. Unfortunately the creole tradition is almost completely gone, so we will have to be satisfied with this sort of musical archaeology. While the dedication to the task of Francis Paynter and family is admirable, and their musicianship good, these six tracks clearly lack the life of the music that was collected from living traditions.
The third section consists of two tracks of a group of elderly women in Korlai (Chaul). These tracks are an interesting example of musical amateurs singing the music of a vanishing tradition.
Southeast Asia/Malaysia/Indonesia/Asia
Each track on this disc is a gem, but a few demand special treatment here. Track 8, entitled "Ti' Anika," has an interesting story. It began its life as a Portuguese popular song at the turn of the Twentieth Century, and was introduced to the Portuguese settlement of Malacca in the early 1950's. It is still popular today, not only in Malacca, but also in Portuguese settlements in Brasil and Hawai'i. "Mama Sä Filu," Track 14 has a similarly cosmopolitan origin, being a cover version of a famous Carmen Miranda hit from the 1940's. The most bizarre and wonderful track has to be Track 33, "O Amor," sung by Noel Felix. What begins as a pleasant unaccompanied ballad in Creole Portuguese takes a strange turn for the prairie about a minute into it, with a rather authentic sounding cowboy yodel. It turns out that Western music (as in the Country and... variety) is quite popular in Malaysia, and the top bands come from Malacca.
The tracks on this disc conformed most to this reviewer's expectations of 'a viagem dos sons,' with their clear hybridization of musical ideas, mixing haunting melodies, jangling chordophones of Portuguese origin and the rhythms of indigenous cultures. Certainly other influences are felt here, as for example the interesting electric guitar work in Track 7, "Bengawan Solo (Minor Key, Bolero-Style Version)." The influences vary in proportion, ranging from the almost entirely Sumatran to the mostly Portuguese, which provides for a pleasant mix to the music.
Aside from the notes, there are no substantial faults to this disc. The tracks clearly reflect the mission of the set. They are interesting, varied, well played, and well recorded. They illustrate that Tradisom clearly deserves its reputation as a premier collector of explorations in Portuguese music. From the opening track, "Unda ta vai quirida," a long, haunting poetic ode to Macau, the listener is treated to a musical tour of the scattered remnants of Portuguese rule. Most of the tracks are various ensembles of voice and chordophones, in the Portuguese tradition. Track 9, "Aqui bobo," is a good fado-influenced carnival song. Of particular note is Track 11, "Ponte I - Macau" by the ensemble A Outra Banda, which is strikingly similar to the work of several of the post-Salazar folksingers in Portugal. There are hints of Chinese influence in the flute lines, but other than that, it sounds like it could have come out of a Tradisom recording made in Lisboa. Also by A Outra Banda is the instrumental "Casas de ópio," which may be the closest track to be fruitfully analyzed in the context of "Fado to Ehru," although the final track, in similar fashion, blends a Chinese instrumental accompaniment, complete with firecrackers, with another beautiful recitation, this time on the theme of the Chinese Lunar New Year. It is a fitting end to a tremendously rewarding disc.
Naturally many of these selections are political. What is refreshing is that they are able to transcend the merely propagandistic. The predominant feature is a unique polyphony, especially well illustrated on track 6, "O Hele Ho," a Christianized version of an indigenous tune. Other tunes demonstrate mixtures of Portuguese and Southeast Asian influence, similar to those found in Sumatra and Malacca. American influences are also found, but they are totally subsumed into the Timorese musical traditions (for instance, "Lenço Ida Ba Noi," which borrows a melody from the pop-tune "Mona Lisa" or "Sae Foho Tun Faho," which uses appallingly irritating synthesizers and drum machines in a rather unique way, such that their bouncy and crude sounds become interesting in ways never intended by the good engineers at Casio). In fact the tunes that have such heavy outside influences (even to the point of being sung in English), demonstrate the resilience of the Timorese people, in that they never sound like they are trying to imitate foreign norms, rather they are borrowing what they choose and using consciously to further their own musical agendas (even, to some extent, in "Karau Atan," the strange Country and Western song by Mario Boavida).
As with the other strong recordings in this set, Disc 8 manages to represent an incredibly wide variety of music, showcasing traditional and modern instruments, indigenous and foreign influence. What makes this disc remarkable is the currently tragic setting in which this music was born. Certainly the histories of any of the regions in a viagem dos sons have tragedy written in them, as does the history of any country. What makes Timor different is how recent the tragedy is and how the music rises far above it. The notes are good, with a couple of problems, notably, the lack of historical background (not once is the series of events from the independence from Portugal to the present outlined), and a couple of tunes that are not explained or translated in any satisfactory way.
Africa/South America
Certainly it is a wonderful thing that all of this is preserved for historical reasons, but it should be part of a disc accompanying a book on this theater tradition, not part of a commercial release. The best way to get some enjoyment is to put this disc in a multi-disc changer and set the thing to random play, so that these will only be delightful flute and drum interludes in the program. Listening to a whole disc of this, however, is not something this reviewer wishes to do a third time.
The 4th track, "Escuta Me" performed by noted pianist Chico Serra and accompanied with cavaquinho, guitar, bass and rattle, is first rate, conveying saudade without even recourse to lyrics. It is all here: longing, nostalgia, fatalism, all bound together with a resigned joy (a notion that probably only makes sense in the context of Portuguese music). For totally unrestrained joy, Track 6 offers a rousing mazurka featuring the octogenarian violinist Gabriel Antonio Costa (known as Nho Kzik).
The closest to a "pure" Portuguese expression in the whole set is track 8, "Situacoes Triangulares" a valso performed by composer and virtuoso guitarist Vasco Martins. Although played on a Spanish style guitar, this is reminiscent of the Portuguese guitarra of Carlos Paredes: complex, breathtakingly haunting and moody music. This is music that achieves the rare combination of intense emotion and restraint, a contrast that virtually defines Portuguese music.
With the widest variety of genres and subjects represented, "Dez Granzin Di Tera" is the strongest disc in a viagem dos sons. Everything from songs for social dancing to a work song, to quasi-liturgical songs to the political tune "CPLP" (a Batuque performed by the Grupo Batuque da Cidade Velha and dedicated to the Community of Portuguese Language Countries) is represented on this disc, giving the listener not only a good sense of how Portuguese and African elements combined in Cabo Verde, but also a feeling for the variety of music found in this tiny group of islands off the west coast of Africa.
This disc is an example of an academic foisting an over-specialized interest on a public that is here for another reason. Anyone who has attended a good share of academic symposia knows the type: the person who is determined to talk on a specific interest, no matter what the topic of the symposium. In a symposium, the audience members roll their eyes, wriggle their toes, and wonder, "why, oh why, was so and so invited?" It is a shame that this otherwise brilliant box of music ends with this disc.
Fortunately the good far outweighs the bad in the set, making the ten great discs more than worth the investment (and, while the two turkeys are not something that the average listener, even of relatively obscure music, will listen to more than once, it is certainly worth knowing something about these street theater traditions). - Erik Keilholtz
These CDs are only available as a complete set.
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© 2002 RootsWorld. No reproduction of any part of this page or its associated files is permitted without express written permission.
José Moças, the executive coordinator for a viagem dos sons bravely tackled the task of tracing the musical influences left by Portugal in the cultures that were part of her empire. Although the task is too big to be completely covered in even the handsome 12 disc set that Tradisom has put out, Moças has put together a wonderful introduction to the musical side of this interchange. The package has as both its strength and weakness the fact that different people took responsibility for each region (and disc). This variety works as a strength when each writer brings a different approach to the table, some taking the approach of traditional record producers (e.g. Susana Sardo's approach to the music of Goa, represented by one ensemble) and others taking the role of the music collector (e.g. Jorge Castro Ribeiro's take on Cabo Verde), making field recordings of several ensembles and soloists in the context of the culture.
