Enciclopédia da música em Portugal no século XX (review)

Enciclopédia da música em Portugal no século XX (Encyclopedia of Music in Portugal in the 20th Century) focuses on musicians, musical cultures, instruments, and trends in the 20th century, with a 30-page chapter covering the transition to the 21st century. The compendium is organized alphabetically and consists of four volumes complete with two accompanying CDs. The first CD contains a collection of 18 successful recordings from the Emissora Nacional Radio dating from 1938 to 1975. The second CD compiles 21 early (pre-1937) recordings from the Museu Nacional do Teatro into four themes: the Triumph of the Republic, the Idealization of Rurality, the Folklorization of Tradition, and the Urban Quotidian.

Coverage of Latin American music is limited and deals almost exclusively with Brazil. At eight pages, the entry on Brazil is the encyclopedia's largest treatment of Latin American music. For comparison, the Portuguese composer and musicologist Luis Maria da Costa Branco receives eight pages, fadista Amália Rodrigues six pages, and the fado 23 pages. Brazilian Music in Portugal is divided into the following sub-headings: General, Circulation of Musicians and the Music of Brazil and Portugal in show business, Bossa Nova and popular music during the [Portuguese] Estado Novo and Military Dictatorship, Brazilian music in the audiovisual and music industries, and in Brazilian immigrant communities in Portugal. Other brief references to Brazil surface throughout the encyclopedia, such as a photograph of Heitor Villa-Lobos visiting the National Conservatory and the adoption of Afro-Brazilian rhythms into Portuguese carnivals during the 1990s.

This discussion of Brazil is appropriate in a work whose main goal is to address the central processes that influenced the musical practices of 20th-century Portugal. That Brazil receives such a substantial entry speaks to the significance of Brazil-Portugal cultural exchanges. In fact, the strength of the encyclopedia is in its theoretical perspectives and its orientation toward transnational musical flows. A near 20-page entry on Migration details colonial and postcolonial diasporas, as well as the influence of the jazz, pop-rock, and world music markets in Portugal. As such, the encyclopedia is a rich resource for African and African Diaspora scholars; coverage of Afro-Diasporic music and musicians is more detailed than Asian music, although the musical migrations of Goa and East Timor are included. However, information on Caribbean and Hispanic Latin American forms is largely absent due to the specific focus on "lusophone regions and countries." In addition to thorough coverage of Portuguese musicians and genres, the encyclopedia provides extensive bibliographies and a 22-page entry listing 72 archives, libraries, and museums relevant to musicological study. The encyclopedia is an important contribution to the field and a useful reference for graduate and undergraduate students alike.