The Portuguese Guitar: History and Transformation of an Instrument Associated with Fado
THE PORTUGUESE GUITAR: HISTORY AND TRANSFORMATION OF AN INSTRUMENT ASSOCIATED WITH FADO NUNO JOSÉ DOS SANTOS ANAIA CRISTO A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN MUSIC YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO JANUARY 2014 © Nuno José dos Santos Anaia Cristo 2014 ABSTRACT Since the mid-nineteenth century the Portuguese guitar has been connected to the fado genre. Over the years, both the instrument and the song genre have experienced significant transformations, at times related to aesthetic changes, at other times conditioned by social, political and economic alterations. This thesis focuses on the historic organological development of the Portuguese guitar, as an instrument associated with fado, and explores how the Lisbon guitar model has been progressively replaced by the Coimbra guitar model (both in practice and iconic symbolism). I argue that this tendency is related to the current new era of Portuguese guitar practice with its origins in the post-revolutionary period lived in Portugal after the political overthrow in 1974. My study is based on the review and analysis of the most recent works on the subject, fieldwork among players and makers, iconographic and archival research, and my own experience as a player and maker of both models of the Portuguese guitar. ii DEDICATION To my parents iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many thanks to: York University for the 2012 GS-CUPE Unit 1 Graduate Financial Assistance - Dom Award. The Faculty of Graduate Studies for the allocation of the 2012-2013 Fieldwork Fund, without whose generous financial assistance this research would have not been possible; My supervisor Louise Wrazen and secondary reader Judith Cohen for all their encouragement, help and insightful advice throughout this process; My teachers at York University: Rob van der Bliek, Robert Witmer, Robert Simms, Trichy Sankaran, and Sherry Johnson.
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