Searching for the Origins of the Portuguese Waltzes

Searching for the Origins of the Portuguese Waltzes is a collection of narratives depicting a six-year quest to discover the roots of a piece of traditional music played in St. John's, Newfoundland: the Portuguese Waltzes. Through interviews, research, and observations, author Richard Simas explores the relationship between Portuguese bacalhoeiros (cod fishermen) and the population of St. John's during the recent cod-fishing era (approximately 1950 to 1980). Memory, and its varying interpretation among different communities, is a major underlying theme. Above all, though, this is a book about music, shared, invented, and improvised, underscoring the power of melody to capture and conserve emotional memory across the Atlantic.

List of contents

Acknowledgments - Intentions, Artistic Collaborator Helena Flores, Photographer - Prologue - Questions - Abel from Caxinas - Os Dancings no Morro: The Dance Halls on the Hill - Ulysses from Vila Praia de ncora - Reading Bernardo Santareno and Land of the Cod - The Women - José da Conceição, Ship Deserter - Mestre Gabriel, Mestre Clemente from Praia de Mira - Jaime Pontes, Cod Fisherman, Raconteur - Many Manuel da Silvas/A Violin in the Attic - Afterword - List of Figures - Notes and Works Cited - Permissions.

About the author

Richard Simas, a freelance writer with a background in literature, music, and the performing arts, publishes regularly in contemporary art and literary reviews. His book The Mystery of the Portuguese Waltzeswas published in 2019 and was a finalist in the 2020 Indie Publisher Awards.

Product details

• Authors: Richard Simas
• Assisted by: Irene Maria F. Blayer (Editor), Dulce Maria Scott (Editor), Blayer Irene Maria F. (Editor of the series), Scott Dulce Maria (Editor of the series)
• Publisher: Peter Lang
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.04.2024
• EAN: 9781636670430
• ISBN: 978-1-63667-043-0
• No. of pages: 132
• Dimensions: 150 mm x 12 mm x 225 mm
• Weight: 305 g
• Illustrations: 13 Abb.
• Series: Interdisciplinary Studies in Diasporas
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Maria, Music, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General, MUSIC / General, HISTORY / General, MUSIC / History & Criticism, Waltzes, Social & cultural history, Irene, maritime history, Richard, origins, History of Music, Scott, Philip, Social and cultural history, Portuguese, Traditional Music, searching, dulce, Dunshea, Blayer, St. John’s Newfoundland, Canadian Maritime History, Simas, Portugal’s cod fishing era