The chalenge of filming musically embodied memories: when ethnomusicology meets Visual Anthropology

Abstract

This project aims to deepen my knowledge on musical ethnographic films, as well as working on the montage phase of my documentary "A Ball of Past Memories", the main product of my post-doctoral research "living Memoirs of a Black Community ': a study of life histories of musical people", along with a renowned institution for its productions in the area, the CREM (Centre de Recherche en Ethnomusicologie) of the Université Paris Ouest - Nanterre La Défense.My research is part of the thematic project "Experience the movie in Anthropology", developed by Visual Anthropology Group (GRAVI) of the Anthropology Department of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH), University of São Paulo (USP). Once completed the steps of collecting and editing images with the Sound Lab Photography and Anthropology (LISA), which provides infrastructure and technical services to all GRAVI team, the next phase, which is the montage, can have substantial gains from work and interaction with the researchers of CREM.In this investigation, I am interested by the memory of black elders from the city of Campinas- São Paulo, culturally active since their youth. Involved in collective music and dance practices, these men and women were substantial contributors in the process of formation of a "black community", supported Campinas and well articulated to the present day. In order to deepen the understanding of the life history of some of these individuals, which is not separated from their involvement in cultural practices, I proposed a visual narrative of their daily lives and their performative expression, having as basis the theoretical contributions of the anthropology of performance, visual anthropology and ethnomusicology.Until this moment, their life stories, their embedded memories and their integration into current movement of revitalization of african-Brazilian expressive cultures, particularly vigorous in the city of Campinas, have been filmed. Completing this set of images is also the footage of a recreation of a gala ball, inspired by the accounts of such events elapsed between the years 1940 and 1950.Dialogue with the CREM the research team would be critical to my production, since the improvement of film language, for it is significant forces such as music and dance, has been the subject of theoretical reflections and audiovisual productions in this research center. (AU)