Revising citizenship: migration and fado in the play of identities in ...

“I may sing a malhão 17 or a vira 18 , or even a simple song; everybody will consider it a fado.”(personal interview, Lisbon, 28.08.1990, in Carvalho, 1991:67).New meanings challenged the identity of fado. If until then fado could be considered“a musical genre, defined within certain limits in terms of song format, tempo,melodic, harmonic and rhythmic patterns, literary thematic and instrumentation”,from then on, vocal style, Amália’s references in other interpretive ways were alsodefining characteristics of the category (Carvalho, 1991:67-68). The elasticity theseinterpreters gave to the identity of fado was not well accepted by those who saw itas a reference to the past, subject to the nationalist purposes of the Estado Novo’scultural policy.In the migrant context in Newark, the conditions expressed as motivations for participationin the event: the taste for old repertoire, the preference for sad subjects and pastthemes, apparently working for the conservative categorisation of fado, did not work forthe other musical repertoire present on the same night. The intensity of the participationleft, however, the impression that the audience was more identified with the lambadadance than with the fados offered up. The contrasting domains co-existing withinthe event resulted respectively from accepted past narratives of nationalist inspirationand mind subjection or from current experience of intercultural motivation and bodyattraction. Both produced essence for identity-belonging strategies, observable in thesolidarity expressed by the participants in both parts of the performance. However, oneof the domains was accepted to represent Portuguese national identity and the otherwas not. Is it possible that this inference has been part of the cause for the frustrationexpressed by the participants? Why is it that a performance domain that interests andpromotes solidarity, motivating identity within a group of Portuguese people cannot orshould not be considered motive for Portuguese identity? What are the impedimentsfor a group of Portuguese people in Portugal or elsewhere to choose a domain foridentity-belonging? May this identity be considered a Portuguese identity? Who or whatdetermines the Portugueseness of the Portuguese identity?From the complex and diversified domains implying different roles of identity dealtwith in the situation described, it is possible to interpret that, for this case:- Reasoning dealing with and eventually choosing from among plural identities, anotion advocated by Sen (in Appiah, 2008:346), may imply mental reflection andbody experience; both may point to opposite directions and the apparently lessrationalised may prevail;- Awkwardness in advocating what is “officially” announced as the chosen identitymay indicate that it is not so. Avoiding names, circumstances, links of differentsorts are among plausible indicators of contrariness;- Reluctance in accepting welfare as part of one’s own identity may compromisethe condition to an extreme point so that it may mean unintended identification,or identification with something not wanted.- The “aegis of the moment” (Dias, 1971:33 in Cabral, 2003:524), changing throughtime and place, requires constant updating regarding domains of identity of individual,group and country or nation concern.88 Music and Migration