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| Institute of Ethnomusicology (Lisbon) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Institute of Ethnomusicology (Lisbon) |
| Established | 1970s |
| Type | Research institute |
| Location | Lisbon, Portugal |
Institute of Ethnomusicology (Lisbon) is a research institute based in Lisbon focused on the study of musical traditions, performance practices, and sound cultures from Portugal, Lusophone Africa, Brazil, and global regions. It operates as a hub for scholars, performers, and archivists engaged with fieldwork, ethnography, and interdisciplinary study, interfacing with universities, museums, libraries, and cultural organizations across Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
The institute traces its origins to post-1970s cultural initiatives linked with Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, and the broader Portuguese academic revival following the Carnation Revolution. Early interactions involved scholars connected to Museu Nacional de Etnologia (Portugal), Instituto Camões, and festivals such as Festival do Sudoeste and Festa do Avante!, alongside partnerships with collectors associated with Museu do Fado and the Orpheon Portuense. Influences included comparative work by figures affiliated with Oxford University, University of California, Los Angeles, and École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, linking to networks around International Council for Traditional Music and Society for Ethnomusicology. During the 1980s and 1990s the institute expanded collaborations with institutions like British Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, Centro Cultural de Belém, and the Instituto Português de Museus. Prominent visiting researchers from Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Chicago, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, and École Normale Supérieure contributed to its consolidation. The institute participated in EU-funded projects with partners such as Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Università di Bologna, Universidad de Sao Paulo, and Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, reinforcing ties to archives like British Library Sound Archive and collections in Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga.
The institute’s mission emphasizes documentation, analysis, preservation, and dissemination, engaging scholars from Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Brazil, India, and other regions. Research areas span comparative studies of Fado, Morna, Samba, Candomblé, Batuque (Cape Verde), Gwerz, Berimbau traditions, and transatlantic circuits linking Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Luanda, and Salvador, Bahia. Interdisciplinary projects connect with institutes such as Museu do Oriente, Royal Anthropological Institute, International Institute for Asian Studies, and centers focused on African Studies Association and Latin American Studies Association networks. Emphasis is placed on intangible heritage debates involving UNESCO, archival ethics modeled on practices from Vatican Library and Getty Research Institute, and digital humanities collaborations inspired by Europeana and Digital Public Library of America.
Educational programs include postgraduate training and workshops delivered in partnership with Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Universidade de Évora, Universidade de Coimbra, and conservatories such as Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa and Conservatório Nacional de Lisboa. Courses and seminars have been co-taught with visiting faculty from King's College London, SOAS University of London, New York University, McGill University, and University of Cape Town. The institute hosts summer schools in collaboration with International Council for Traditional Music and postgraduate symposia tied to doctoral networks including European Doctoral School initiatives and Erasmus Mundus programs with Universität Wien and Universidade de Salamanca. Professional development involves partnerships with Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Fundação Oriente, and municipal cultural departments of Lisbon.
Collections encompass audio archives, field recordings, notation manuscripts, photographs, and audiovisual materials, paralleling holdings at British Library, Sound Archive of the Museu do Fado, Discoteca de Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, and Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo. Special collections include recordings collected in collaborations with Ethnomusicology Archives at UCLA, field notebooks resembling those in Weltmuseum Wien, and oral history projects linked to Instituto de História Contemporânea (Univ. Nova) and Centro de Estudos Comparatistas. The archive preservation program follows standards promoted by International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives and engages digitization initiatives with Europeana Sounds and HathiTrust-style interoperability. Cataloguing has been influenced by schemes from Library of Congress and International Federation of Library Associations.
The institute organizes sustained fieldwork across Lusophone Africa, Brazil, and Eurasian diasporas, with projects conducted in regions such as Minas Gerais, Bahia (state), Pemba (Mozambique), Santiago, Cape Verde, Benguela, and neighborhoods in Lisbon and Almada. Field teams have included ethnomusicologists trained alongside scholars from SOAS, Harvard, and Stanford University and collaborated with community organizations like Associação Caboverdeana, Associação Música de Intervenção Social, and municipal cultural offices of Luanda. Research topics have covered ritual musics associated with Nossa Senhora da Conceição, labor songs of Funchal, carnival traditions linked to Olinda Carnival, and syncretic repertoires connected to Candomblé terreiros and Capoeira circles. Ethical protocols align with models from American Anthropological Association and community archiving practices promoted by Indigenous Documentarians.
The institute publishes monographs, edited volumes, journal special issues, and working papers, often co-published with presses like Berghahn Books, Routledge, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and academic journals including Ethnomusicology, Yearbook for Traditional Music, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, and Music & Letters. Collaborative networks include International Council for Traditional Music, Society for Ethnomusicology, Associação Portuguesa de Etnomusicologia, Latinoamérica y el Caribe research networks, and project consortia funded by European Research Council, FCT (Portugal), and Horizon 2020. The institute’s editorial board has featured scholars affiliated with Universidade de São Paulo, University of California, Berkeley, Brown University, and Universität Leipzig.
Located in Lisbon cultural districts near institutions such as Belém Cultural Center, Campo de Ourique, and the Alfama neighborhood, the institute shares proximity with Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and the Instituto de Estudos Orientais. Facilities include digitization labs modeled on British Library conservation suites, listening rooms akin to those at Smithsonian Folkways, seminar spaces used by Universidade de Lisboa affiliates, and specialized storage comparable to Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino. The institute facilitates public engagement through concert series, exhibitions, and lecture programs drawing artists and researchers connected with Amália Rodrigues, Cesária Évora, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Miriam Makeba, and ensembles from Cape Verde and Mozambique.
Category:Research institutes in Portugal Category:Ethnomusicology