Biography
Sofia is Ph.D. candidate in Ethnomusicology at the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Instituto de Etnomusicologia – Centro de Estudos em Música e Dança, with a project funded by FCT about the Portuguese selection to the Eurovision Song Contest - Festival RTP da Canção. Currently, she develops research work on Music and Television, Music Festivals, Music and Media, and Music Industries. She holds a BA in Musicology and a Master’s Degree in Ethnomusicology at the same institution with the dissertation about music, television, and protest song during the Dictatorship. She is the Team Leader and member of the Scientific Committee of the International Conference Eurovisions: Perspectives from the Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts (1st. edition: Lisbon, Portugal – February and May 2018; 2nd. Edition: Tel Aviv, Israel – May 2019). She is a researcher in the INET-md projects: “EcoMusic - Sustainable practices: a study of the pos-folklorism in Portugal in the 21st century” and “ORFEU (1956-1983): The Politics and aesthetics of popular music production and consumption in modern Portugal”. She was a researcher in the project "The recording industry in 20th century Portugal" (INET-md). Sofia has been part of the Organizing committees of several activities in INET-md. She has presented her work in national and international conferences, as well as in several journals. She also made fieldwork on Portuguese Wind Bands (2009 and 2011) and published a Portuguese-English book (2012): New Inhabitants – Euterpe Musical Society. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Dossier – the Observatory of the Protest Song. She was a member of the Pedagogical Board and was a professor of Musical Training, Creative Development, and Combo at Escola das Artes do Alentejo Litoral, Sines (2012-2013); teached Music History and History of Culture and Arts at the Conservatório das Artes – Canto Firme, Tomar (2014-2015), and Music History, and Artistic Project at the Conservatório de Música de Ourém e Fatima (2009-2012; 2014-2015). She studied clarinet at the CFA – Sociedade Filarmónica Gualdim Pais, Tomar, with António Rosa, and Gonçalo Conceição and work in masterclasses with Nuno Silva, Paulo Gaspar, and Bruno Graça.
Doctoral Project
Title
“Playback”: The RTP Song Contest and the music production and mediation in Portugal (1964-2014)
Advisor
Fellow Reference
SFRH/BD/103718/2014
Abstract
RTP Song Contest (Festival RTP da Canção) is the contest that was broadcast for more years by Portuguese television (1964-2012). Involving hundreds of performers and composers, has established itself as a major musical reference for several generations of Portuguese public. The experience of half a century of television, the quintessential instrument of democratization in Portugal, passed through FRTPC which brought to the music field the great challenges of Portuguese society and sometimes made the music a real agent of social transformation. Despite its longevity and its preponderance in the television and music scene in Portugal for five decades, there is not a critical and scientific analysis to RTP Song Contest in its various aspects. This is the first ethnomusicological study that contributes to understand the role of RTP Song Contest in its various aspects. On one hand, this research intends to launch a critical perspective regarding the role of competition as a vehicle to transmit national identity notions, analyzing how these concepts were projected through music at national and international levels. On the other, it opens the discussion about the articulation of FRTPC with the demands of the music industry and other mass media. For this it is necessary to understand the complex relationship music-television-industry, always with the backdrop of the political and social changes occurred since the second half of the twentieth century. Settled on international contributions about the issues and objects of research, this thesis articulates the studies on media and media ethnomusicology allowing us to understand the role of RTP Song Festival in musical mediation and in the redefinition of discourses about cultural and national identity. This research aims to launch for the first time in the international academic world the study of RTP Song Contest, representing Portugal in the international arena.
AdvisorFellow ReferenceSFRH/BD/103718/2014AbstractRTP Song Contest (Festival RTP da Canção) is the contest that was broadcast for more years by Portuguese television (1964-2012). Involving hundreds of performers and composers, has established itself as a major musical reference for several generations of Portuguese public. The experience of half a century of television, the quintessential instrument of democratization in Portugal, passed through FRTPC which brought to the music field the great challenges of Portuguese society and sometimes made the music a real agent of social transformation. Despite its longevity and its preponderance in the television and music scene in Portugal for five decades, there is not a critical and scientific analysis to RTP Song Contest in its various aspects. This is the first ethnomusicological study that contributes to understand the role of RTP Song Contest in its various aspects. On one hand, this research intends to launch a critical perspective regarding the role of competition as a vehicle to transmit national identity notions, analyzing how these concepts were projected through music at national and international levels. On the other, it opens the discussion about the articulation of FRTPC with the demands of the music industry and other mass media. For this it is necessary to understand the complex relationship music-television-industry, always with the backdrop of the political and social changes occurred since the second half of the twentieth century. Settled on international contributions about the issues and objects of research, this thesis articulates the studies on media and media ethnomusicology allowing us to understand the role of RTP Song Festival in musical mediation and in the redefinition of discourses about cultural and national identity. This research aims to launch for the first time in the international academic world the study of RTP Song Contest, representing Portugal in the international arena.Research Group: Ethnomusicology and Popular Music Studies