A series of activities, including oral communications, round tables and musical presentations, today marks Egberto Gismonti's visit to Unicamp, within the scope of the 5th Brazilian Contemporary Music Festival.
Professor and musician Paulo Tiné, who will participate in the round table “Musical aesthetics and rhythmic texture in the works of Egberto Gismonti”, supervised two studies on the composer from Rio de Janeiro at the Institute of Arts (IA), the venue for the festival's activities. (see today's schedule).
For Tiné, "Understanding Gismonti’s music, its context and meaning is, in a way, understanding ourselves.” In the interview that follows, the teacher analyzes the work and talks about Egberto's place in Brazilian music.
What is Egberto Gismonti’s place in contemporary Brazilian music?
Paulo Tiné – Egberto Gismonti already has a consolidated position today, more in popular music, within a place resulting from the context of the 1970s that ended up classifying him, along with Hermeto Pascoal, as the place of avant-garde and experimentalism. Paradoxically, at that time, the combination of these terms (avant-garde and popular) was possible due to a series of historical, cultural and social factors. However, specifically in what is classified as contemporary Brazilian music, which is the place of Brazilian classical music today, Egberto is not a consensus.
The means of producing and maintaining this type of music is restricted to academic environments or partially public places, such as the SESC environment, which encourages this type of production. But it should be noted that, despite this, Gismonti's music circulates in many classical music environments as well, especially because it is music that cultivates the habit of writing. The environment where there might be reservations about his production would be, specifically, the composition of contemporary classical music.
In your opinion, what were the composer's greatest contributions to what is conventionally called the evolutionary line of Brazilian music?
Paulo Tiné – Firstly, we must remember that this expression of the “evolutionary line”, if I am not mistaken, was forged by Caetano Veloso in the context of the 1970s, especially in the context of Tropicalism. To do this, we need to have a somewhat linear look at the events in the history of popular music in Brazil and believe in a certain historical narrative about MPB, whose acronym, in itself, already explains this thought.
However, leaving these reservations aside, the contributions were immense, especially in the field of instrumental music. Gismonti's music closes the cycle of samba jazz and the approach linked to jazz improvisation, placing greater emphasis on the guitar, which is influenced, above all, by Baden Powell. As an arranger he inserts experimental procedures that, yes, dialogue with currents of contemporary music from the 1970s, procedures that focus on a very particular and unique way of playing the piano.
Adding to this are many traces of Brazilian popular rhythms and aspects linked to a certain mysticism, also characteristic of the 70s and 80s. The experiences of Xingu, India and Afro-Brazilian religions end up bringing ethnic traits to their music that go beyond the scope of national musical elements although, ultimately, everything serves its particular Brazilianness, in a certain way, an anthropophagic posture. Not surprisingly, his music was classified as “wild”, especially the music from the anthology “Dança das Cabeças”.
The entire work shows that Gismonti managed to do something new with a foot in tradition. What do you think of this merger and what resulted from it?
Paulo Tiné – Personally, I really like it. I actually learned to like Egberto's music. It's not easy music, it requires an active stance on the part of the listener and many albums consist of suites, that is, interspersed songs. He makes great use of sound environments that complement the music.
And, in truth, this foot in tradition is also a foot in invention or in a tradition that is peculiar to it. As an example of this, you can see how little frevo there is in your piece. Frevo and how much your Maracatu is stylized. It doesn't seem to me that Gismonti studied the canons of these manifestations exhaustively, but he appropriated them in a personalized and unique way. Perhaps the same could be said about Villa Lobos.
Like mr. Do you see the tribute paid to him at the festival, especially in the case of a country whose strength is far from memory?
Paulo Tiné - A His presence, and that of everyone else in this edition and previous editions, is extremely important. We are working with living and current musicians. Our objects of study and source of inspiration are there. Of course, our approach must always be guided by a distance and critical positioning, but in the field of art I believe we can understand it as a specific type of knowledge production that is unique to each composed or improvised work and whose formula, normally, serves exclusively to the singular example. The same goes for cases like Egberto's. Thus, understanding his music, its context and its meaning is, in a way, understanding ourselves.
'O dialogue with an expanded universe'
Pianist and researcher Bia Cyrino will participate in one of the oral communications scheduled for today, with the work entitled "The sound of Egberto Gismonti at the beginning of his career (1969-1977)”. According to the researcher, who is a professor and coordinator of the Higher Music Course at the Federal University of Latin American Integration (UNILA), today's presentation will show some of her doctoral research, defended in 2016 at the Institute of Arts (IA) from Unicamp, with the title “A futuristic heart: constructive deconstruction in the compositional processes of Egberto Gismonti in the 1970s”. The guidance was provided by Professor Rafael dos Santos.
“Like all research work, the thesis opened up discussions that still require further elaboration”, she states, revealing that, in today's presentation, she intends to dwell more on the concept of 'sonority'”, emphasizing the compositional material and the structure of songs by Egberto Gismonti. “I want to demonstrate the analytical parameters that make us understand the sound as a fundamental dimension of a musical work, to the detriment of its melodic and harmonic parameters”. Below, the pianist talks about her thesis and the work of the composer from Rio de Janeiro.
What was the thematic axis of your thesis?
Bia Cyrino – The origin of the idea of carrying out research on Egberto Gismonti came from content that I began to investigate during my master's degree, in which I dedicated myself to studying the musical production of a Brazilian group called “Som Imaginário”, which produced in the transition from 1960s and 1970s. This is a very rich period musically and a very turbulent phase with regard to the political and social situation in Brazil. In this way, in my doctorate, I tried to continue delving deeper into this historical moment, only this time with a greater emphasis on a pianist, due to my specialty as a musician, and on instrumental music. It was at this moment that I looked for the work of Egberto Gismonti.
Did you already have references about your work?
Bia Cyrino - I knew little about his initial production, as I recognized him more as an instrumental musician. That's how I discovered that Gismonti began operating in the popular music market in Brazil in 1969 and, until 1977, released several albums, many of which focused on the production of Brazilian popular songs. Thus, the research focus was on the musical analysis of these first albums.
As it is part of the area of academic research that today is defined as “popular music”, I sought not only to structurally analyze its musical production, but also to seek connections between its aspects and the social and cultural transformations of that period.
I limited my analysis material to phonograms taken from eight of his albums, and a good part of the research was dedicated to transcribing this material, focusing mainly on the re-recordings of certain compositions that appear more than once in this discography, each version with arrangements very different.
The comparison between these versions was fundamental as a methodological tool for the thesis. I also searched for historical documents that allowed the recognition of the marketing conditions to which Gismonti was subjected during the period studied. Around 40 newspaper and magazine reports were collected between 1969-1977.
What were the findings of these prospections?
Bia Cyrino - The musical material analyzed and placed in context allowed the elaboration of discussions regarding the broader meanings that Gismonti's music presents in that historical period. In general, the thesis proposes that the type of musical narrative found in the musical production of this section is connected to another worldview, opposed to the idea of “being national” that is commonly associated with other productions of Brazilian popular music from that period.
We can see in his creative process the dialogue with an expanded universe of cultural information coming from different places around the world, and its relationship with other cultural identities that are no longer fixed, that cross natural borders.
What were the conclusions of the research?
Bia Cyrino – We were able to shed light on the old discussion between the famous mix between “erudite and popular”, reaching the conclusion that that antagonistic notions are no longer able to explain what is recognized as “hybrid” in Gismonti’s work.
I still looked for elaborate on the way in which Gismonti uses the procedures of a given musical practice in his creative processes. To this end, he brought some aesthetic concepts such as “recreation”, “inclusion”, “transcription”, “experimentation” and “sound”, to support the discussions brought up in the work. In general, we noticed that, within the period in which Gismonti began his professional work in the field of Brazilian popular music, the identity categories are no longer connected to a unified national culture but to a scenario that is increasingly fragmented, both in the musical sense, as well as social.
As a musician, what analysis do you make of the importance and innovative aspects of Egberto Gismonti's work?
Bia Cyrino – The scale of Egberto Gismonti's work is very difficult to define, given that, in addition to his numerous discography, the musician is a tireless composer who produces uninterruptedly and obstinately to this day, including soundtracks and grandiose works for orchestra. .
I believe that his work is a clear example of what is conceived as the territory of the “intersection” of the practices of the erudite and popular universes, but much more than that, it is a timeless work that, despite being highly elaborate, is immensely creative, flexible and accessible, so much so that many of his compositions are re-recorded year after year by various artists around the world.
As a musician, I can say that Gismonti's music allows incorporation and adaptation to an infinite number of guises; Egberto's own musical work as an instrumentalist and arranger shows us this. With each performance of his, something new for that old composition; the same song is never played the same way. For me, this is the greatest importance of his work: its imaginary, creative, fluid and timeless potential.
What, in your opinion, is the place of the composer in contemporary Brazilian music?
Bia Cyrino – Another important fact is that Egberto Gismonti has always been at the forefront of musical thinking, potentially and quite appropriately violating some “rules” and “traditions” in the field of Brazilian music, as, for example, when he records the album with works by Villa Lobos using synthesizers in 1985.
In this way, the musician always connected with the experimental aspects of the musical field, exploring musical materials to the fullest, worrying much more about “how” to play than “what” to play. This musical conception undoubtedly makes him appear as a very important character in contemporary Brazilian music, inspiring new artists and always reminding us that music really is a territory without borders.
Life, work and Brazilianness at the sound plant
In his master's research entitled “The dance of the 8 strings in the heads of Egberto Gismonti”, Mario Admir Patreze Junior dedicated himself to studying the use of various types of guitar in the composer's work, who was always responsible for the tunings.
The emphasis was on the 8-string guitar used by Egberto in the seminal “Dança das Cabeças” (1977), inspiration for the play on words in the title of the work, presented last year at IA under the guidance of professor Paulo Tiné. "BI wanted to analyze its technical-compositional aspect, the styles used, as well as the discourses and musical matrices involved, in addition to historical issues, Egberto's trajectory and the context of the album's production”, reveals Patreze.
In the opinion of the study author, who is also a musician, the Gismonti's work is marked by the concatenation of different musical discourses, bringing together practices from classical, popular and even regional music.
Patreze believes that this brand is a reflection of the composer's life path and work, who was raised in a family of many musicians and had as partners, on stage and on records, names from different styles and currents. He cites, among others, Marie Laforet Herbie Hancock, Airto Moreira, Naná Vasconcelos, Jan Garbarek, Charlie Haden, and Ralph Towner.
At the regional level, Patreze mentions the experiences with the Indians of Xingu and Sampaim. “It seems that Egberto, flexible and eclectic that he is, incorporates all these experiences and makes a point of including them in his speeches, whether in interviews or in his music”, he says. “From what I could observe, all of this is linked to his conception of Brazilianness. For Egberto, being Brazilian means dealing precisely with this plurality”.
