«Este canto é de mulheres!»:

Uma história de dominação, «desaparecimento» e resiliência

Abstract

The process that led to the recognition of Cante Alentejano by UNESCO encouraged, in Portugal, women to organise themselves to safeguard and recognize the ‘Canto a Vozes de Mulheres’ (women multipart singing) as intangible cultural heritage. They mobilized municipalities and research centers in the pursuit of their project. This paper approaches the process from four topics: (i) the survey of women's multipart singing through the nineteenth and twentieth century ethnography; (ii) the «disappearance» of women multipart singing from the folklorization process in Portugal; (iii) the impact of the UNESCO convention on the sustainability of multipart singing and the ecologies of musical practices sustained in the face-to-face relationship; "iv) the manifest in favour of the intellectual, artistic property rights and governance of women multipart singing; (v) the resilience strategy, in which we, ethnomusicologists also have a role. My objectives are to investigate contexts in which musical competences and traditional practical knowledge enable people to act socially, even in a situation of subalternity; and understand the impact of the UNESCO convention on the intangible heritage of humanity on the sustainability of women’s singing.