Transdisciplinary sound experiences about Festa de São Gonçalinho

Abstract

In 1998, a symposium promoted by UNESCO declared transdisciplinarity as an intellectual space where issues can be rethought, alternatives of knowledge can be re-considered, and inter-relations can be revealed in unusual ways. This approach takes the different methodologies and the different types of knowledge in order for them to transform and to transcend themselves through the creation of new metaphors to communicate knowledge. This proposal aims to proffer an audio experience of a sound ethnography about the Festa de São Gonçalinho of 2020 in Aveiro. The fieldwork was carried out by the research team of the SOMA (Sounds and Memories of Aveiro) project, and the team members collectively planned the fieldwork and recorded the sounds, the music, and the interviews they conducted. The construction and the production of the sound ethnography results from several dialogues between a new team member from France, with sound expertise, and an ethnomusicologist from the team during the COVID19 confinement. The sound ethnography has been conducted by using sound design technics to channel and focus the listener’s attention. The original materials have been slightly altered by stereophonic editing, equalization, compression, and audio leveling to bring the Festa de São Gonçalinho to life. A ‘footstep’ sound effect was also added to the original materials to stage the different sounds recorded in the field. The result is at the crossroads of archiving, documenting and artistic creation. It is a vivid sound journey along the streets of Aveiro, a wandering through the Festas de São Gonçalinho. But the final result is also at the crossroads of knowledges – the intellectual transdisciplinary space - where the nature of the manifold experiences can be evoked through sound metaphors.