LEVA LEVA
Litany of Portuguese fishermen

With its new project focusing on the songs of fishermen in Portugal, the platform FLEE attempts to bring together an in-depth anthropological research together with a contemporary hybrid and artistic reflection on an important facet of Portuguese social and cultural history.
Using work songs from the 1940s, 60s and 80s recorded around the Algarve region, through these melodies the project attempts to document the history of these fishermen, the nature of their hardship and often exploitative conditions as well as their progressive encounter with important economic and political changes affecting the country in the 1970s.
Further than looking at the fishermen directly, the project also investigates the birth of ethnomusicology in the country through the work of French ethnomusicologist Michel Giacometti, in a period when the country gradually started “discovering itself“ and its regional cultures in a reflective manner.
To carry out this ambitious work, the collective will publish a book and release an LP. The latter will present original archive recordings of fishermen’s songs as well as revisited versions by contemporary artists and music producers. In parallel, the book will include various essays, interviews, archive photographs, as well as two art commissions, looking at fishermen in Portugal through an original perspective. This particular object will be accompanied with a series of talks, performances and an installation presented at maat.

This is a programme developed by FLEE with the support of the French Institute in Portugal.
More information on the public programme coming soon.

FLEE is an independent curatorial and art platform dedicated to documenting and enhancing hybrid cultures, founded by Alan Marzo, Olivier Duport and Carl Åhnebrink. As an interdisciplinary practice, the entity functions as a record label, publishing house and exhibition producer. Creatively exploring and emphasising the outlines of globalisation from a historical perspective, FLEE focuses on shedding the light on subjectively selected cultural phenomena, while making them interact with contemporary artistic approaches.