Guillermo de Llera Blanes, investigador do INET-md, recém-doutorado pela NOVA FCSH, é autor do artigo ““Making-do”: The DIY MidiMbira and other traditional Mozambican instruments in live-looping performance”, publicado em acesso aberto na revista DIY, Alternative Cultures & Society (Sage Journals).
Neste artigo, o autor argumenta que a inovação DIY de instrumentos musicais e a prática de live-looping em Moçambique podem funcionar como uma prática decolonial, articulando uma forma de “soberania sónica”. A análise centra-se na transformação performativa de instrumentos tradicionais — em particular a MidiMbira e o Kankumbwe — através de processos de remix e de interfaces digitais, mobilizando enquadramentos teóricos como remix theory, temporalidade Africana (sasa/zamani) e playability theory, bem como a tipologia RIY3 (Remix/Recycle/Re-signify It Yourself).
Resumo (apenas em inglês):
This article argues that DIY musical instrument innovation and live-looping in Mozambique functions as a decolonial practice, asserting what I term sonic sovereignty. Drawing on remix theory, African temporality, and Playability Theory, it examines the transformation of traditional instruments—specifically the MidiMbira and the Kankumbwe—through digital performance. A 2024 live-looping set is analyzed in which archival footage was modularized into audiovisual stems, controlled via tactile interfaces, and layered with improvisation. Methodologically, the article combines practice-based research with ethnographic engagement and remix aesthetics. The RIY3 (Remix/Recycle/Re-signify It Yourself) framework conceptualizes DIY as a culturally embedded, recursive logic that prioritizes continuity over novelty. In contrast to Global North framings of DIY as leisure-based resistance—rooted in voluntary disengagement and creative subcultures—Mozambican DIY emerges from constraint and cultural inheritance. It is not merely reactive, but a situated form of creative agency forged through necessity, collaboration, and historical continuity.