Unicamp will hold its first symposium, "Perspectives on Popular Music at the Public University," on the 14th of next month. This initiative aims to discuss the paths of teaching, research, and artistic production in the field of popular music. The event will also pay tribute to professors José Roberto Zan and Rafael dos Santos, retired faculty members who played a fundamental role in consolidating the area of popular music at the University.
Zan and Santos have been linked to the history of popular music at Unicamp since its early years. Rafael dos Santos worked as a professor of popular piano and in the area of Music History. Zan, in turn, contributed to broadening the reflection on industrialized music and the social role of musicians and artists. The two coordinate the research group "Popular Music: History, Production and Language," which brings together researchers who graduated from the University and are currently affiliated with other institutions.
The program will feature the participation of researchers from different universities. In the morning, members of the research group who are now professors at other institutions will participate in a panel discussion. Among the guests are Gabriel Rezende and Maria Beatriz Cyrino, from the Federal University of Latin American Integration (Unila), Adélcio Camilo, from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), and Daniela dos Santos, from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo (IFSP).
In the afternoon, the program will feature a panel discussion with Walter Garcia, from the Institute of Brazilian Studies at the University of São Paulo (IEB-USP), Ivan Vilela, professor at the School of Communications and Arts (ECA-USP), and Edson Natale, guitarist, composer, producer, and researcher. Following this, a roundtable discussion will bring together the honored professors, moderated by Leandro Barsalini, professor of popular music at Unicamp.
Reflection
According to Professor Regina Machado, from the Institute of Arts (IA), one of the organizers of the symposium, the activity takes place at a particularly important moment for reflection on Brazilian culture. She highlights the diversity of the country's musical production. “Our popular music is absolutely diverse, rich, and constantly evolving,” she comments, emphasizing that the contemporary scene is intense and diverse, both outside and inside the University. “We are training people to work as artists, producers, and researchers. We have a very intense production here. So, the symposium is an opportunity to discuss both internal issues of university education and the broader role of popular music in society,” explains the professor.
Pioneering spirit
Unicamp occupies a pioneering position in this field. The popular music course, created in 1989, was the first in Brazil and Latin America specifically focused on university-level training in this area. According to Professor Thaís Lima Nicodemo, Professors Zan and Santos helped build an innovative course at a time when popular music was just beginning to gain space in formal studies. "It's a field that combines practice with critical reflection," she emphasizes. "While in many countries practical training takes place in conservatories, and theoretical research in universities, Unicamp developed a proposal that brings together both dimensions," she adds.
According to Thaís, the honored professors played an important role in building this model and in training researchers and artists who went on to work in different Brazilian institutions. She emphasizes that the current faculty members of the course maintain this dual role: in addition to teaching and researching, they continue to record albums, perform shows, and work professionally as musicians.
The course's trajectory has also been marked by a transformation in its focus. Regina Machado explains that, in the early years, there was a perspective more concentrated on jazz. Over time, Brazilian popular music has come to occupy a central position in undergraduate and graduate programs. "Today, Brazilian popular music is our main focus in the training processes," she observes. For her, the consolidation of this area reinforces the connection between the University and society.
Cacá Machado, also a professor at IA, highlights the relevance of the University's postgraduate programs, which contribute to the training of teachers and researchers who work in different parts of Brazil. "The first symposium, therefore, aims not only to celebrate an already consolidated trajectory, but also to open space for new questions about the future of popular music in public universities," he points out.
Horizon
The organizers expect the meeting to also be a starting point for new debates on the relationship between artistic practice, research, teaching, and cultural diversity. To that end, new symposia are already on the horizon.
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