Musica Urbis: um olhar antropológico sobre a vida musical na cidade de Juiz de Fora, MG

Abstract

The present doctoral research aimed to investigate the theme 'music and the city,' drawing theoretical and methodological inspiration from Magnani's work on the neo-esoteric urban circuit. The main interest revolves around the trajectories of live performance musicians in the city, following their experiences and how they construct their artistic presentations in the spaces within the city of Juiz de Fora, MG. Understanding the musical phenomenon as an action that involves musicality, aesthetics, performance, audiences, tastes, and social relationships, it is evident that urban spaces cannot be seen merely as backdrops but as active places in the construction of what has been defined here as 'musica urbis,' composed of musical landscapes that are constructed and reconstructed daily within the urban dynamics. To achieve these objectives, ethnography and netnography were the primary theoretical and methodological tools used for the investigation. The former allowed for participant observation in the city's musical spaces, including the recording of accounts and the capture of images to illustrate the studied environment, while the latter facilitated the tracking of interaction online between the artist subjects and the audience, especially on social media. The ethnographic/netnographic focus of this research corresponds to one of the musical flows in the city, specifically artists and spaces within the middle-class, progressive, and leftleaning (in political aspects) context of Juiz de Fora. The thesis is then divided into four parts: theoretical orientation, the approach to fieldwork and data construction, presentation of collected data, and finally, the analysis. Thus, the research seeks to contribute to the understanding of musical life in Juiz de Fora, exploring artists, spaces, and the cultural and social impact of these artistic expressions on the city.