ARMANDO LEÇA

First recordings of Alentejo cante
RECORDINGS MADE IN ALENTEJO 1939/1940

200 page hard cover book, written in Portuguese and English 3 CDS.

RECORDINGS MADE IN: ALJUSTREL, BEJA (BALEIZÃO), CAMPO MAIOR, ÉVORA, MÉRTOLA, MOURA, ODEMIRA, REDONDO, SERPA (ALDEIA NOVA DE SÃO BENTO and VILA VERDE DE FICALHO), VIDIGUEIRA and VILA VIÇOSA.

ALENTEJO: VOICES AND AESTHETICS IN 1939/40.
CRITICAL EDITION OF THE RECORDINGS MADE BYARMANDO LEÇA

The release of the recordings made by Armando Leça in mainland Portugal, in 1939-40, is a milestone of the documentation and study of rural music. These recordings are the first systematic inventory of rural music. Kept in the RTP archives, they have remained unreleased and unaccesible over 70 years. Thanks to ethnomusicologist Maria do Rosário Pestana, author of this book, and to the colaboration between the National Institute of Ethnomusicology (center of Aveiro’s University), the National Radio and Television and the Audiovisual Archive of Viena, these recordings are now available to their original communities, musicians, scholars and the general public.

Undisputably valuable, the musical excerpts and the lyrics included in Leça’s recordings embody the social life, the values, the knowledge and the creativity of individuals and groups of different places.

The recordings collected by Armando Leça are thus a valuable repository of the country’s sonic memory, enabling the study of rural music. Their release is an essential contribution to the knowledge of Portuguese music and culture, in a period that has marked the expressive culture in Portugal in the 20^th century.