Portugal needs experts on Chinese instruments, said scholar

Énio de Souza

The absence of Portuguese experts in Chinese music in Portugal remains a challenge, and will continue to be a setback if its institutions don’t establish networks with experts in this field.

Énio de Souza, a scholar currently based in Lisbon, said that Portuguese universities that have music departments don’t have any seminars or courses on Chinese musical instruments.

Énio de Souza spoke at a seminar and book launch about “Chinese Musical Instruments” in Albergue SCM last week.

The researcher, current organizer and coordinator of the education department of the Macau Scientific and Cultural Center Museum (CCCM) in Lisbon, kicked off his research in November 2011 and continued until February 2015, discovering over 400 Chinese musical instruments held across six collections in Lisbon.

According to the scholar, the significant number of instruments present in Portugal was due to the five centuries of politics, trading and cultural relationship growth between Portugal and China.

Alongside this research framework, the group also found iconography of Chinese instruments depicted in several Chinese objects, including terracotta, stone, bronze and porcelain.

“This material has great potential for research but it looks like [it’s been] neglected from the point of view of studies,” the scholar expressed.

Énio de Souza remarked that if Portugal is to be up-to-date in the field of Asian Studies, with a particular emphasis on China as well as its music and organology, the country should work on establishing scientific networks with Asian and western countries that have known competence in the field.

Speaking on the role of the SAR in promoting Chinese instruments in Portugal, he noted, “Macau’s [role] was very important because it was […] the last Portuguese administration that started to send Chinese musical instruments to Portugal.”

The scholar recalled that the Macao Chinese Opera performed in many cities in Portugal back in 1987 until its latest performance in the country in 2014, where it held a total of four concerts.

“The Portuguese administration developed and promoted Macau in the West and Asia because many people don’t know about this,” he said.

“Later on, [since] China had economic power [in] the early millennium… we had many Chinese citizens in Portugal… leading to further development of Chinese instruments in Portugal,” de Souza explained.

Énio de Souza was responsible for launching and organizing the first and second editions of the “Chinese Music and Musical Instruments: Lisbon Conference,” held in 2016 and 2017.

Just this month, he also co- organized the 21st Chime international conference on Chinese Music Research held in Lisbon. LV