Lila Ellen Gray

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Lila Ellen Gray is a cultural anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, and musician. She holds a PhD in cultural anthropology and a MA in music from Duke University. Her book Resounding History: Politics of the Soul in Lisbon’s Fado (in press, Duke University Press), is based on ethnographic field research conducted during the first decade of the 2000s with amateur fado musicians, communities of listeners, poets, fans, and cultural brokers in the city of Lisbon.  Her article “Fado’s City” (2011) was awarded the 2012 Jaap Kunst prize by the Society for Ethnomusicology. She is an associate professor of music at Columbia University where she teaches in the ethnomusicology program.

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Exposition: The learning process in fado through artistic research (01/01/2012) by Brita Lemmens
Lila Ellen Gray 10/11/2012 at 01:27

The topic of learning in fado (as read against the common stereotype amongst fado practitioners that fado is essentially “unlearnable”) is an interesting and important one and warrants multiple ethnographic perspectives from different researchers.  The author brings her unique vocal training, musicality, experience, and self-positioning (as “half” Portuguese, “half” Dutch), and some solid ethnographic research to bear on a reflexive approach to the question. 

The strength of the work is in the observations Lemmens draws from her own empirical research conducted vis-à-vis her vocal practice.  Additionally, she documents her artistic “process” with care. Lemmens’ piece also benefits from her audio/visual examples (as adding richness to the text).

For further reading I recommend the following works not referenced in Lemmens’ exposition:

Brito, Joaquim Pais de
1999    O Fado: Etnografia na Cidade. In Antropologia Urbana: Cultura e Sociedade no Brasil e em Portugal. G. Velho, ed. Pp. 24-42. Rio de Janeiro: J. Zahar Editor.

Castelo-Branco, Salwa El-Shawan
1994    The Dialogue Between Voices and Guitars in Fado Performance Practice. In Fado: Voices and Shadows. J.P. de Brito, ed. Pp. 125-141. Lisbon: Electa.

Elliott, Richard
2010    Fado and the Place of Longing: Loss, Memory and the City. Farnham, Surrey, England Ashgate.

Gray, Lila Ellen
2011      Fado´s City. Anthropology and Humanism 46(2):141-163.

Nery, Rui Vieira
2004    Para uma História do Fado. Lisbon: Público-Comunicação Social, SA/Corda Seca, Edições de Arte, SA.

Tinhorão, José Ramos
1994    Fado: Dança do Brasil, Cantar de Lisboa. Lisbon: Caminho da Música.