Orquestra da boba: Lugar de sonoridades plurais

Abstract

This text examines the relationships and practices of the protagonists of an orchestra that grew up on a council estate in Amadora. It explores the social contexts of inequality on the estate, and the project as a means of empowering the population in multiple dimensions of participation and citizenship. The author hypothesises that this inter-relational environment may generate fields of creative possibilities along the lines of the theory put forward by Gilberto Velho. At the same time, application of this ethnographical point of view to his exploration of the orchestra's integration networks allows the author to problematize experiences with plurality, mediation and differentiation as possible means of convergence between aspirations and opportunities.