The beginning of 'The state of things'

​The day started with Rodrigo's piece still installed. With the recent change in plans, we sill don't have the floor painted white but Sara has already gone to buy a map of Funchal, in order to guide herself through the sites that will be referred to by each participant in her piece. She also bought plenty batteries for the sound recorder.

We had our first interviewee, who came in antecedence, and even without any booking, during what was technically an installation day. It was Daniel Melim again, who is going to have to return to Lisbon tomorrow! Although music is not his main artistic focus - as painting and drawing are - he is however interested in different areas of art because of their therapeutic power. We learned that he had participated in shamanic rituals with chants carrying in them the spirits of certain sacred plants!

Afterwards, without even having planed it, we all went together to Estalagem da Ponta do Sol, to listen to Sérgio Godinho. We also got some homework from Melim for tomorrow, who referred Praia do Toco as the place in Funchal whose sound he finds unavoidably inscribed in his memory. Now there we go with contact mics in order to record underwater environments with our very characteristic rolling stones!

Photograph by Rui A. Camacho