THE RIVERS OF THE COMMUNITY
Viseu Dão Lafões
A poetic-musical and multimedia performance
Part of the the 18th Vouzela Book Fair and of the Tramontana Network project.
Sax on the Road + Binaural Nodar
Wednesday, April 29 at 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM (two sessions)
Vouzela Municipal Library (Vouzela, Portugal)
The territory of the Viseu Dão Lafões Intermunicipal Community, comprising fourteen municipalities in the Portuguese central region, includes a wide variety of rivers, framed from north to south by three main river basins: the Douro, the Vouga, and the Mondego. These three rivers and their tributaries (such as the Paiva and the Dão) even define some of the boundaries between municipalities and, consequently, part of the map of the Viseu Dão Lafões Intermunicipal Community itself.
In 2023, the project “The Rivers of the Community – Viseu Dão Lafões” was launched, consisting of the selection of 14 rivers and streams, chosen to include both some of the smaller rivers and streams as well as the major rivers that help define the geography of the territory and run through several municipalities: Alfusqueiro, Castelo, Coja, Cabanas, Carapito, Dão, Dinha, Mau, Mondego, Paiva, Pavia, Sátão, Sul, and Vouga. Each of these riverine contexts was extensively documented by the Binaural Nodar team, in terms of soundscapes, interviews with local communities, and video recordings.
Following this research, in 2024, a phase of poetic and musical exploration began, which took shape in a collaboration between the Binaural Nodar association team and the musical group Sax on the Road, formed by António Manuel Ramos and Dolores Spínola, to create a poetic-musical and multimedia performance and an album featuring the 14 composed tracks, which were premiered in November 2025.
On April 29th, The Rivers of the Community – Viseu Dão Lafões will be presented for the second time in Vouzela, in which the poems dedicated to the rivers and streams of the Intermunicipal Community of Viseu Dão Lafões are read by their author, Luís Costa, coordinator of Binaural Nodar, alongside a musical performance (guitar, saxophone, percussion, sound objects, and electronics) by the group Sax on the Road. The musical performance is based on a “sonic layer” composed of excerpts from soundscapes and ethnographic recordings made throughout the project. Each piece is also accompanied by a video projection edited by Liliana Silva, based on footage shot at each of the rivers and streams in the region.
ARTISTIC AND TECHNICAL CREDITS:
Original concept: Luís Costa
Ethnographic research: Ana Margarida Ferreira, Nely Ferreira, Liliana Silva, and Luís Costa
Poetic texts: Luís Costa
Musical performance: Sax on the Road (Dolores Spínola and António Manuel Ramos)
Audiovisual editing: Liliana Silva
Production and communication: Binaural Nodar
Partners: Municipality of Vouzela, Viseu Dão Lafões Intermunicipal Community, and the European Tramontana Network.
Binaural Nodar is a cultural organization supported by the Portuguese Republic – Culture, Youth, and Sports | Directorate-General for the Arts.