Dona Lília, Dona Rosa Maria and Dona Arminda took the stage and presented their spiels, riddles, popular sayings and even anecdotes, some of them a little “spicy”, as the ladies always explained. «Don't take this the wrong way, because there are anecdotes that seem one thing and are another. In the end, we explained everything…», insisted D. Lília Amador.
This was one of the moments of the launch of new digital platform "Algarve Imaterial", presented to the public last Friday, at the Museu do Trajo of São Brás de Alportel, and promoted by the working group on Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Algarve Museum Network.
But the presentation of the platform, which brings together the manifestations of intangible cultural heritage (PCI) of the Algarve, as well as all the information inherent to this heritage, in addition to the explanation of what it is, who produced it and what content it involves, had other moments linked precisely to this heritage.
It started with music, with the young accordionist David Mendonça, "a son of the house", as presented by Emanuel Sancho, director of the Museu do Trajo, and with the flutist Paul Carter, an adopted Sambrasan.
There was also an exhibition of traditional handicrafts and crafts, with palm work, basketwork in esparto, rag dolls, honey, among others. And after the presentation by the three ladies, about the oral heritage, there was a tasting, where the highlight was the pot of steaming and tasty porridge, made by Dona Rosa Maria. And there were still many other traditional delicacies and sweets to enjoy.
But what then is the “Algarve Imaterial” digital platform? This is an instrument created by the working group on Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Algarve Museum Network, created in 2010, and aims to enhance and disseminate the manifestations of the region's intangible cultural heritage.
The website that was presented on Friday already includes many of the manifestations of the Algarve PCI, with their references, even geographical, by municipality, since mapping is one of its objectives. It also includes some field work done by technicians from Algarve Museums, as well as links to articles that the media have dedicated to the manifestations of the Algarve's Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The platform, as explained by Helga Serôdio, from the Loulé Museum, who, with Veralisa Brandão, from the Olhão Museum, coordinates the group, “is still a work in process”. «In the end, it will be a job that will never be completed, because we will always be adding more and more information. And there will always be something missing to complete the page», he stressed.
«This platform is the result of a two-year work by this group from the Algarve Museums Network. It's a page created in the middle of a lot of discussion. But, from now on, it is a very useful tool for anyone wanting to investigate the Intangible Heritage of the Algarve», added Veralisa Brandão.
The site is, therefore, very useful, for example, for teachers who want to work on these themes with their students, for those who like to get to know their land better, for researchers or… for journalists.
And, for that reason, the director of Sul Informação, the journalist Elisabete Rodrigues, was one of the invited speakers for the session, underlining the “importance that the media, regional or national, should give to these issues of Intangible Cultural Heritage” and how the new platform can “help the work of journalists ».
For Elisabete Rodrigues, these themes are “especially important for regional newspapers, because they have to do with our roots”. O Sul Informação, he added, often publishes content within this theme, to which the newspaper "pays a lot of attention". To illustrate this, Elisabete Rodrigues presented to the audience the video report, published last January, on Charolas from the village of Bordeira, in Faro.
For her part, Alexandra Gonçalves, regional director of Culture of the Algarve, another guest speaker, highlighted the «aesthetic and content quality» of the platform.
«There is Algarve heritage here in urgent need of safeguarding», like the last abegão, working in the municipality of Albufeira, but «there is also heritage that is not about to disappear, although it also needs to be recognised, safeguarded and studied». stressed.
"This platform does not want to replace the PCI's National Inventory", but "to make known the work being done here and promote recognition among the community", added the person responsible for the Regional Directorate of Culture, an entity that is also a partner of this platform. “Algarve Imaterial” project.
«Now, this is no longer just the work group of the Algarve Museum Network, it is now part of the global dimension», which «creates a greater responsibility». But it also opens the platform “to others, to all who can and want to make their contribution”, concluded Alexandra Gonçalves.
The working group, made up of technicians from museums in the region, has been developing, over the last few years, collaboratively and with the involvement of the communities, a persistent work of exchanging experiences and working methodologies, in order to safeguard these manifestations.
The creation of a platform that brought together all manifestations of the Algarve's intangible heritage, as well as all the information inherent to that heritage, was part of the coordination program for the 2016/17 biennium.
Thus, this page is created, which seeks to «make known a set of knowledge and practices that constitute an essential factor for the preservation and safeguarding of the Algarve's collective memory and identity».
The working group for creating the “Imaterial Algarve” platform it was led by the Museums of Loulé and Olhão. The municipalities of Alcoutim, Albufeira, Faro, Portimão, S. Brás de Alportel, Tavira and Vila Real de Santo António.
«Museums emerge in this context as privileged cultural agents for their study. Aimed at safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage, dissemination and even perpetuation, these institutions increasingly tend to assume the social responsibility of giving priority to direct contact and observation of the communities and social groups that confine their territories of action, as well as monitoring the its transformations», refers to the platform.
Listen and see the spiels, riddles and sayings here:
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