tornadouro: Work

Tornadouro

Tornadouro is a Portugal you know not.

The ancient folk imagery

made of extinct or threatened

objects, materials and techniques.

Tornadouro presented itself as a multidisciplinary project that sought to recover objects that are extinct or threatened, serving anonymous portuguese culture.

Tornadouro intended to inventory, produce and promote traditional objects, through a critical and artistic discourse around ethnography and folklore. It also aimed to collect, reformulate and update some representations of the Portuguese collective imagination, mainly from the north of the country. Among the objects recovered, we highlight the castanhola de cana rachada, the tem-te-não-caias (paper wobble toy), the flauta-de-cebola, tréculas, paper masks and the zuca-truca (tradicional percussion instrument).
This project was supported by the Passaporte para o Empreendedorismo program promoted by IAPMEI and won the 3rd place in IN.AVE, Rede do Empreendedorismo do Ave.

tornadouro: Text

tornadouro: Work

Zuca-truca | São Torcato | Guimarães | 2014-2019 
Graphical and ethnographic attempt to rescue a traditional Portuguese instrument
Francisco Machado, better known as Chico Bouças, lived in a small house, right next to the Church of São Torcato. With the help of his sister, he built, to sell, a percussion instrument unique in Portugal - the zuca-truca.

This instrument, also known as cana de bonecos, is used to set the rhythm during musical shows. We can find specimens in Rancho da Corredoura and São Torcato. There is also a reference to Zuca-truca in Ernesto Veiga de Oliveira book Instrumentos Musicais Populares Portugueses (2nd edition of 1982). It is believed that the zuca-truca gave rise to the famous brinquinho da Madeira, a smaller version of the instrument.

This instrument consists of 3 groups of dancers and a doll with a concertina on top. The main structure is a varnished bamboo cane with a wire inside that allows the dolls to move. As each male doll has castanets on his back, in addition to the movements of the dolls we can hear the sound of castanets. These six dolls carved in wood (3 women and 3 men), are dressed in traditional Minho costumes.

tornadouro: Text

tornadouro: Work