Of blows and tubes: wind instruments in the South American lowlands

• Grant number: 17/05013-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2017
• End date: February 29, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Indigenous Ethnology
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Renato Sztutman
• Grantee: Gabriel Garcêz Bertolin
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Among the different organological classes, there is a predominance of aerophones among the indigenous peoples of South America. These musical instruments produce sound from the vibration of the air, mainly from the breath. This thesis starts from the central position occupied by these wind instruments to think about the transformations revealed from their activation in large collective parties. The transformative effects of trumpets, flutes and clarinets blow among different peoples are very diverse, among them it is possible to notice the fabrication of the body of young initiates, the production of collectives, the dilution of borders between humans, animals and spirits and the activation of qualities specific to gender relations, especially in the latter case, when one is in front of wind instruments forbidden to the feminine vision. From a comparative analysis based on different ethnographic descriptions of aerophones, we seek to understand three aspects that involve these tubular instruments: their material quality, with special attention to their duration in time, their sound, both in acoustic and communicative terms, and the gender relations activated from its blow. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

BERTOLIN, Gabriel Garcêz. Of breath and tubes: wind instruments in the lowlands of South America. 2022. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) São Paulo.