Gonçalo M. Tavares and the Grupo Coral da Academia Sénior de Serpa
Gonçalo M. Tavares is one of the most renowned and awarded Portuguese authors, with work in several literary genres and translated into several languages. He writes a poem for the interpretation of Grupo Coral da Academia Sénior de Serpa.
Lyrics: Gonçalo M. Tavares
Musical composition: Armando Torrão
Interpretation: Choir Group of the Senior Academy of Serpa
Gonçalo M. Tavares has published books in different literary genres, translated in around 60 countries. His books have received several awards in Portugal and abroad.
Recently, Le Quartier (The Neighborhood), by Gonçalo M. Tavares, received the prestigious Prix Laure Bataillon 2021, awarded to the best book translated in France. With Learning to Pray in the Age of Technique, he received the Prix du Meuilleur Livre Étranger 2010 (France). Some other international prizes: Portugal Telecom Prize 2007 and 2011 (Brazil), Internazionale Trieste Prize 2008 (Italy), Belgrade Prize 2009 (Serbia), Grand Prix Littéraire du Web – Culture 2010 (France), Prix Littéraire Européen 2011 (France).
He was at different times a finalist in the Prix Médicis and Prix Femina. Uma Viagem à Índia received, among others, the APE 2011 Grand Prize for Romance and Novel. His books have given rise, in different countries, to plays, dance, radio plays, short films and objects of plastic arts, dance, videos of art, opera, performances, architectural projects, academic theses, etc.
The Grupo Coral da Academia Sénior de Serpa was founded in 2010 and originated in singing lessons given the richness of the work developed and the enthusiasm for it. It is a mixed group made up of 18 elements and its teacher of singing lessons, Pedro Mestre, is the rehearser.
The sung modas are representative of the vast wealth of our region's repertoire. They deal with themes about work, love and life and are a manifestation of the joy that happened during agricultural work (harvesting, weeding, olive picking...) and their rhythm seems to accompany the slowness of movements that so well characterized these works.
The costumes in which the group performs evoke the customs of times gone by and the humility of the lives of these people that we proudly try to relive in those moments. The group presents some examples linked to field work: the reaper, the weeder, the olive harvester, the water harvester, the washerwoman and the Sunday costume.
