Do «Cancioneiro Minhoto» ao Grupo Folclórico Dr. Gonçalo Sampaio: Discursos e percursos até 1950

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the relationship between the ethnographer Gonçalo Sampaio, his rural music documentation in the Baixo Minho region (Braga district) and Grupo Folclórico Dr. Gonçalo Sampaio until 1950. As one of the oldest groups still in activity, it is our purpose to understand its origins and relationship with different moments of the folkloric movement in Portugal. This article intends to problematize the folklorization process through different moments of the group’s history, in relation to the social, cultural, and political dimensions of the 30’s and 40’s in Portugal. The group’s foundation in 1936, under the leadership of Gonçalo Sampaio, with Joaquim Cândido da Mota Leite’s support, guaranteed the seal of ‘authenticity’, which constitutes a pillar of the group’s identity. Its integration into the FNAT Regional Delegation of Braga in the 1940s marked another important step in the institutionalization of folklore within the corporatism sphere. In line with the anthropologist Jorge Freitas Branco, we aim to present a fluid reading of a process characterized by different moments and forces that coexisted, sometimes in contradiction, and in which state institutions, historical and political moments, as well as individual profiles of relevant personalities were summoned.