The emotional centre
A girl sets her adufe against her grandmother's, matching the beat with her thumbs until, after a while, the two drums and the two voices become one — and the older woman stops correcting, and only listens.
The sequence
It reads like a book. Each photograph rests on the sound that was happening when it was made: come closer, with the sound on, and listen.
12 photographs
Who receives
Not yet known
I am looking for a girl learning the adufe from one of the Adufeiras, followed from the spring workshops to the ritual at the castle.
Each chapter follows one child closely, chosen with their family. The thread of the chapter is theirs: the learning, the day of the festival, and the everyday.
What I photograph
The passing on of the adufe through the spring — the workshops, the Adufeiras teaching girls — culminating in the Festa da Divina Santa Cruz on the 3rd of May, the ritual at the castle.
Three threads
- 01
The learning
The gesture not yet settled: the first time the body makes the sound, and someone older corrects it.
- 02
The performance
The day the tradition shows itself, and the child stops rehearsing and begins to be seen.
- 03
The everyday
School, the phone, the kitchen — where the tradition lives alongside everything else.
The recordings
What could be heard while the photographs were being made. The still image lives on the sound.
- 01AmbienceThe spring workshopNot yet recorded
- 02RhythmThe adufe, in triple timeNot yet recorded
- 03SongThe voices of the AdufeirasNot yet recorded
- 04AmbienceThe climb to the castle, 3rd of MayNot yet recorded
The film
The film is made of living photographs: the camera does not move, and life moves inside it.
The ground
A granite village in the Beira interior, among boulders, where on the 3rd of May the festival climbs to the castle.
With the families
The children in this archive appear with the permission of their families and their communities, and only once there is trust. They may leave at any time. The photographs always go back home.