Música e exílio em França durante o Estado Novo (1933-1974)
Organic Unit: FCSH
Research Center: INET-md, CESEM, IHC
Organic Unit: FCSH
Research Center: INET-md, CESEM, IHC
EXMUS is a research project funded by FCT that aims to address the musical activity of Portuguese exiles in France during the Estado Novo period (1933-1974), analyzing various case studies, taking into account different musical genres and practices.
During the Estado Novo regime, music played a crucial role in the resistance to the dictatorship and the expression of political dissent. Protest songs were sung at clandestine meetings, unauthorized strikes and demonstrations, student rallies, and inside the political prisons of the regime. Many of the authors of these songs were in exile in France, a main destination for political and economic migration. The musical repertoire created by these musicians continues to have a strong presence in Portuguese collective memory and is regularly sung at commemorations of the Carnation Revolution. However, in-depth research on musical production in the context of exile in France during the dictatorship is still pending.
The main objective of EXMUS is to explore the impact of the exile experience on musical creation. The project is organized into three lines of research that cover the extensive chronological period of the dictatorship: an ethnographic history of individual paths; a cultural, social, and political history of musical practices; and an analysis of musical creation and production. Several case studies will be analyzed, taking into account different musical genres and practices, from the composer Fernando Lopes-Graça, exiled in Paris in the 1930s, to popular music singers active in France during the 1960s and 70s, mostly associated with the radical left (José Mário Branco, Sérgio Godinho, Tino Flores, among many others).
EXMUS, coordinated by Manuel Deniz Silva (INET-md) and Mário Vieira de Carvalho (CESEM), will study the relationship of these musicians with the complex network of political and cultural organizations in the context of exile, contributing to the historiography of Portuguese resistance and highlighting the importance of analyzing the transnational circulation of cultural and artistic productions.
