António Ventura Martins

Biography

António Ventura was born in Aveiro, Portugal, in 1992. He completed a degree in Artistic Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Coimbra in 2014 and a Masters in Music in Ethnomusicology in 2016, at the University of Aveiro. He is currently a doctoral student in Ethnomusicology and is part of the research team of the project “EcoMusic – Sustainable Practices: a study of post-folklore in Portugal in the 21st century” underway at the University of Aveiro. He presented communications at national and international scientific events. He performs as a guitarist and composer in several musical projects in the area commonly known as rock. Since 2014 he has been interested in visual ethnography and documentary film as a tool for scientific investigation and as a means of preserving practices, protagonists and cultural contexts. His scientific areas of interest are the processes of traditionalization, heritage and documentation of rural music.

Doctoral Project Title: “Easter Mysteries” in Idanha-a-Nova: Patrimonialization and Turistification Processes

Advisor Maria do Rosário Pestana

Abstract This study focuses on the musical performances known as “Easter Mysteries” in the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova. “Encomendação das Almas”, “Passos”, “Martírios”, “Terço Cantado” are some religious performances that, after being extinct in most locations and suffering a process of decontextualization triggered by local ranches throughout the 20th century, have been revived (Livingston 1999) and recontextualized in time (of Lent / night) and space (of local streets) integrating tourist routes and cultural destinations (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1998). These also justified a process of patrimonialization, in which the municipalities, the local church, local scholars and an expressive group of locals participate. Considering that these practices have a plurality of meanings and cross several domains – religious experience, construction of the site, heritage -, this study seeks to contribute to the reflection of the role of these rural musical practices in the construction of local society in the 21st century and the dynamics between public, performers and institutional agents.