Orfeu (1956—1983)
— Politics and Aesthetics of Popular Music Production and Consumption in Modern Portugal
Orfeu is a research project focused on the Portuguese music industry, and the Orfeu record label in particular. The project developed into a broader inquiry on the politics and aesthetics of the production and consumption of popular music in Modern Portugal.
As part of the Orfeu different outcomes, esad—idea developed the Communication and Web Design, the publication, curation and production of the whole project.
In 2022, a multimedia installation curated by José Bártolo opened at the Fonoteca Municipal do Porto/ Arda Music Hub to explore the possibilities of the archive as research method and project. The installation stemmed from Orfeu’s phonographic catalog, considering its cultural and political context, the forms of publishing, and the dissemination and consumption of popular music in Portugal in the second half of the 20th century.
Along with the installation, the project included talks, an active listening session and the launch of two EPs. esad—idea also implemented Orfeu Project website — a digital archive of the Orfeu's phonographic records, and published Discos Orfeu: Catálogo Visual e Crítico [Orfeu Records: Visual and Critical Catalogue].
Créditos
Proponent Institution
INET — Instituto de Etnomusicologia — Centro de Estudos em Música e Dança (INET-md), Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCSH-NOVA)
Participating Institution
esad—idea, Investigação em Design e Arte
Principal Researcher
Salwa Castelo-Branco
Principal Co-Researcher
Rui Cidra
Researcher
Hugo Castro, Leonor Losa, Luís Trindade, Manuel Deniz Silva, Nuno Domingos, Pedro Nunes, Ricardo Andrade, Sofia Lopes, José Bártolo
Advisors
Jocelyne Guibault, Timothy Dean Taylor
Graphic Design, Web Design and Development
Diogo Vilar, Inês Nepomuceno, Rafael Gonçalves, Susana Martins, Pedro Meireis