The second edition of FORA – Algarve Orality Festival starts on June 30th, and will last until July 4th in various spaces in Portimão and Alvor.
This exhibition of the oral heritage of the Algarve region offers the opportunity to see, hear, participate and have fun in a series of free-entry events. The start is scheduled for Tuesday night, June 30th.
The invitation is to go to TEMPO – Teatro Municipal de Portimão and watch the opening of the festival, with the screening of the film «Floripes», by Miguel Gonçalves Mendes, followed by a brief conversation about the production and impact of this documentary film which addresses the legend of the enchanted Moorish woman of Olhão, still very much alive in the imagination of its people.
On the 1st of July, at 18 pm, it will be the time for the Museu de Portimão, where its assets will be shown by the voice of former workers of Fábrica Feu and fishermen. The night continues with a space for reflection on the relationship between the oral heritage and the museum space.
The session starts at 21 pm, with the performance of the Accordion Orchestra of the Academy of Music of Lagos, directed by Gonçalo Pescada, and continues with a round table composed by Maria Luísa Francisco, researcher and regional delegate of the Portuguese Association of Museums (APOM) , Ana Patrícia Ramos, anthropologist at the Portimão Municipal Museum, and Idalina Nobre, coordinator of the Intangible Cultural Heritage working group of the Algarve Museum Network, which will try to answer the question: “What is the place of oral heritage in the museum?”.
FORA heads to Alvor on Thursday, July 2nd. The meeting point is at Alvor Castle and at 18:30 pm, participants will be invited to discover the secrets and cures for all ailments, in a mezinhas workshop that promises to attract even the most incredulous.
The night continues with the recreation of a traditional practice in Alvor: corn husking. Listening to the stories and songs, getting into the Algarve's rural daily life.
The afternoon of Friday, July 3rd, begins at Casa Manuel Teixeira Gomes, with a space dedicated to younger people. At 15 pm, Clínica ASAS invites the little ones to play with words, in a session where the children are guided by the speech therapist Elsa Glória in a fun discovery of new language skills.
Next are the linquintinas from the Algarve: two Moças taken from the breca (the Moças Nagragadas) who introduce to the younger people this tradition still so alive on the tip of the tongue of the Algarve people.
Afterwards, D. Almerinda and D. Leonor make known the tongue twisters, the spiels, the riddles, in an intergenerational dialogue that awakens the children's interest in their mother tongue.
From 17:30 pm, the FORA stage changes to the Old Lota de Portimão building. This is the time when the TASA project – Tradições Ancestralis, Soluções Atuals will be presented. Sara Fernandes (ProActivetour) and Catarina Cruz (CCDR Algarve) will talk about this project that combines traditional regional culture in terms of handicrafts with strategic innovation and a more contemporary language.
Popular religiosity arrives at FORA at 18:30 pm, in a conversation about beliefs, superstitions, prayers and plagues conducted by Margarida Tengarrinha and Conceição Cruz. An invitation to share what you also know or heard to your parents and grandparents.
FORA continues with one of the most traditional practices in the Algarve: the harvesting and distillation of arbutus and at 19:30 pm, the Confraria do Medronho will share stories of how this lengthy but rewarding process was and is still today – much more than the simple transformation of the fruit in drink, but also a moment of sociability and sharing between generations. The Confraria do Medronho will also be present with a musical moment by its singing group.
The music continues on FORA. At 21 pm, D. Almerinda and D. Leonor join the other Nagragadas girls and bring traditional folk songs. Born in 30, the Moças Nagragadas are a group from Paderne, part of the APEORality association.
At 22:30 pm, the invitation is for a “little foot” dance. Marcelo Rio with music at the Baile FORA and after midnight at the FORA de Horas, it's time to listen and share urban myths.
On Saturday, FORA starts at 17:30 pm at Antiga Lota de Portimão with traditional arts and crafts at FORA workshops where you will learn how to prepare anchovy, how to delight family and friends with regional sweets and how to make your own baskets and works in palm. Then, at 18:30 pm, the motto will be the accent and the traditional expressions of the Algarve.
Professor Maria Alice Fernandes (Superior School of Education and Communication at the University of Algarve), humorist Dário Guerreiro and writer Sérgio Brito will show that “Speaking in the Algarve, we understand each other”.
And the conversation follows the music. The Canto Reborn Group, under the baton of conductor António Vinagre, brings us traditional songs from the Algarve. The music continues at 21 pm, with Amigos da Figueira, who will whet your appetite for another night of moving your skeleton – Baile FORA with Pedro Silva.
Saturday's FORA Hours starts with the anecdotes of D. Alzira – from Mexilhoeira Grande, with a lot of humor. And to finish off in beauty, Dário Guerreiro returns, now in the shoes of Môce dum Cabréste, for a pleasant chat. In three words: not to be missed!
FORA – Algarve Orality Festival is an event organized by associations Web of Impulses e Dawn, in partnership with the Municipality of Portimão, the Municipal Museum of Portimão, the association APEOrality – Association for Research and Study of Orality and the producer JumpCut.
FORA also has the fundamental support of the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve, Parish Council of Portimão, Parish Council of Alvor, Sul Informação, Restaurante Forte e Feio, Restaurante Bacalhoada and Pedras Salgadas.
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