A multidisciplinary team of faculty, researchers, and doctoral students from the Department of Communication and Art (DeCA) at the University of Aveiro will present, on March 13 at 9:30 p.m., the launch concert for the album Songs of Seeking & Fragmentos de Viagens at the Fábrica das Ideias in Gafanha da Nazaré, Ílhavo. The initiative is part of a project funded by Portugal’s Directorate-General for the Arts (DGArtes) and supported by a network of cultural institutions, including 23 Milhas, Casa de São Sebastião, Vic Aveiro Arts House, the University of Aveiro, INET-md, and Porta do Café.
Framed as both a musical performance and a narrative experience, the concert—subtitled Voice of Silence—draws inspiration from The Conference of the Birds, the 12th-century Sufi allegory by Farid ud-Din Attar. The production follows the parallel journeys of two characters, Tomás and Sofia, who embark—at different moments—on quests for meaning, freedom, and self-knowledge. Through a blend of physical travel and interior reflection, the work interweaves folk-inspired songs with spoken texts, constructing a performative space shaped by transformation, rupture, and eventual reunion.
The project is conceived by composer and writer Gilvano Dalagna, who authored the music and co-wrote the texts, alongside Richard Simas, responsible for dramaturgy and textual development. Simas, a Canadian of Portuguese ancestry, is also known for his literary work and for translating Zulmira Died, a notable work of fiction originally written by Portuguese author Virgínia do Carmo, published by Poética and Bruma Publications. Artistic and executive direction is shared by Dalagna, Simas, and Clarissa Foletto. Musical production is led by Fausto Lessa Pizzol, with executive production by Sérgio Neves of the ArtTalent Association.
The ensemble reflects the project’s collaborative and transnational ethos. Performers include Clarissa Foletto (violin, harmonium, arrangements), Fausto Lessa Pizzol (bass, arrangements), Gilvano Dalagna (guitar, voice, arrangements), Luam Clarindo (percussion, drums, arrangements), Aurora Miranda (voice, arrangements), Marisa Ponce de Leon (flute, voice, arrangements), Raquel W. Young (voice, arrangements), and Richard Simas (clarinet, voice, arrangements). The concert will also feature guest appearances by Grupo Vocal Prisma – Vozes Diversas and guitarist Guillermo Bocanegra. The broader production team includes Xavier Marques (sound design), Fábio Coelho (visual production), and Lara Teang (graphic design and illustration).
At its narrative core, the project stages a meditation on absence, movement, and existential inquiry. The synopsis begins with Tomás, who, in the middle of the night, quietly leaves the apartment he shares with Sofia, carrying only a coat and a copy of Albert Camus’s The Stranger. Without explanation, he sets off on an itinerant journey through Algeria, Paris, and New York, searching for meaning in displacement. In parallel, Sofia encounters The Conference of the Birds and undertakes her own path toward freedom, traversing both external landscapes and interior states of being.
Years later, the two characters—metamorphosed into hybrid beings, part human and part bird—reunite, sharing narratives shaped by transformation and time. Their stories unfold through a cycle of songs and recited texts that echo the allegorical structure of Attar’s work, where the journey itself becomes the site of revelation. In this sense, Songs of Seeking & Fragmentos de Viagens situates itself within a broader tradition of philosophical and artistic inquiry, where music and literature intersect to explore the enduring question of self-knowledge.
Tickets for the performance are available online, and additional information can be found via the project’s social media presence (@songsofseeking).
Filamentos (artes e letras) 