Virgínia Dias

The film intends to substantiate into images and sounds the feeling of an underground analogy, no doubt partly subjective, based on Portuguese and Turkish topography and culture, while also calling upon the silent continuity of Muslim culture within Portuguese culture. By triggering encounters between members of the two cultures, one reveals what weaves the bonds between two universes so seemingly distant from one another, aside from historical facts.

Mesmerized by the songs of Peroguarda villagers in southern Portugal’s Alentejo region, young Portuguese modern poet Antonio Reis, Corsican researcher of Portuguese folk music Michel Giacometti, and film director Paulo Rocha visited the village one after another in the late 1950s. This work refreshes the soul and flows with songs and poetry seeped in sadness, as well as the atmosphere of the quiet sea and village, fields adorned with vibrant red flowers, and roads traveled by Reis and the others, while interspersing images from Paulo Rocha’s films.

Traveling by the experience and by the roots of one of the strongest manifestations of Portuguese popular culture – singing polyphonic Alentejo. Evoking Michel Giacometti, the film questions the origins of the “sing” in the context of Mediterranean culture.