Tiago Pereira and the Musical Memory Map of Benfica: Learning to Listen While Recording

Since 2011, Tiago Pereira, aged 52, has dedicated himself to rescuing hidden voices and artists without a stage through the project 'Música Portuguesa a Gostar Dela Própria' (Portuguese Music That Likes Itself). The filmmaker and radio broadcaster has traveled through about 230 municipalities in the country recording people and their songs, in a gesture of appreciation for all music, whether professional or folk. This collective memory is just a click away through 'Lastro', a search engine that 'proposes a new way to explore music and oral tradition'.

Recently, Tiago brought the project to the Lisbon parish of Benfica to demonstrate how, within a single Lisbon neighborhood, a universe of musical traditions is hidden—coming from the interior of the country and even from other nationalities. Although he does not identify with the traditional teaching model, he chooses to work precisely from schools. Tiago Pereira advocates the urgency of bringing recording and listening tools into classrooms—a mission he is already developing at the Quinta de Marrocos Elementary School through the project 'Benfica à Música Portuguesa a Gostar Dela Própria'.

In an interview, Tiago explained how he got to know Benfica: 'Benfica is a place that has accompanied me for a long time. It has to do with my rebellious adolescence, in the sense of understanding what I want for my life as a creator, instead of following a normal path of studies.' When he arrived in 1989, Benfica was clearly a dormitory suburb, but with characteristics it still holds today. It is a neighborhood that houses many people from migration flows in the late 1930s and 1940s, and also in the 1950s and 1960s, from all over the country: from Trás-os-Montes, Algarve, Alentejo, Beiras, Northern Littoral... These people came here essentially to start businesses: eateries, grocery stores, pharmacies, or other types of commerce.

The next phenomenon, also quite interesting, is that Benfica is one of the places in Lisbon that most received returnees from the former colonies after April 25th. Therefore, there is a large migratory flow of people who were in Angola, Mozambique, or Guinea and came to live here. Especially, many Cape Verdeans came to Benfica, which is why the Cape Verdean community in Benfica is so large and has been there for so long. All this makes Benfica a musically rich and diverse area, a mosaic of different cultures and traditions coexisting.

Tiago Pereira's project not only records music but also documents the stories and contexts behind these sounds. The 'Lastro' search engine allows users to explore this rich archive, contributing to the preservation of Portugal's cultural heritage. The project is particularly important for younger generations to recognize and appreciate their own cultural roots. Through his work in schools, Tiago teaches students not only how to record but also how to listen and understand.