Worlds of becoming: the relational space of music making in the context of Portuguese diaspora

Abstract

This presentation focuses on the life stories of amateur musicians, native to the island of S. Jorge, who crossed the ocean in search of better job opportunities in the United States of America. Without knowing the language and culture of the host country, they anchored themselves in the networks woven by Azorean emigrants to find work and accommodation in San Jose, California (US). Those local networks - “an invisible structure” as referred by Ruth Finnegan, rest on previous family and neighborhood paths and ties but were consolidated, expanded and culturally established through reiterated social practices, in which music played a central role. The main purposes of this presentation are to discuss (i) how the so called Lusohope World lives through the agency of individuals operating in the particular social context of Portuguese migration, and (ii) how the musical skills and knowledge enabled individuals to cross borders and undertake successful journeys at the heart of adverse territories. The research is based on field work and several interviews with Azorean migrants that are also amateur musicians. The research reveals that (i) with their reiterated musical practices, amateur migrants forge a framework for security living in a hostile space; (ii) for those musicians, migrancy is an experience of bottom-up cosmopolitism that empowers them to act and intervene when they return to the homeland; (iii) musical knowledge is a repertoire for social action.