Hi Brad, I should preface my remarks with a mention that I did my Ph.D. research at McGill University (Montreal) in Anthropology during the 1970's where I did a 2 year plus study of Portuguese immigrants and the social redefinition of ethnic, national and cultural identity. For several years during graduate school I performed professionally with a number of Portuguese fado musicians. I have also spend some time in Britain because my wife is from Glasgow.
1) This issue of cultural imperialism is a tricky subject of which my fellow Americans are often oblivious--since you are British you will have to assess how my statements apply to your country. While it may seem extraordinary to you that anyone would think that the English guittar was "given" to the Portuguese nation, that is precisely how the history had been written from the anglophone perspective. This is precisely the implication of the Grove Encyclopedia's long standing article on the Portuguese guitar where it simply states that the Portuguese guitar was derived from the English guittar imported into Oporto. What I am stating here is NOT my view of the matter but the opinion of a number of Portuguese I have listened to. For example, in Montreal I heard Portuguese musicians arguing about the origin of the Portuguese guitarra and stating that its English origin proved the poverty and decline of Portuguese culture. They would complain that even their national instrument had to come from some where else. The efforts of Pedro Caldeira Cabral work to show the native origin for the Portuguese guitar is an effort to challenge the long standing anglophone version of history. Please understand that what I am talking about here is not the facts of history but about popular understanding of "history" and "national culture". While Portugal was for a long time a colonial power, during much of the 19th and 20th century they viewed themselves as in financial colonial relationship with Britain. 2) The author you are looking for is probably Mário de Sampayo Ribeiro for wrote in the 1930's and 1940's. 3) I have read the Silva Leite method of which I have a facsimile. It is often cited as the first Portuguese guitar method published in Portugal and proof that the Portuguese guitar came from England. A reading will show that it was not a method for the Portuguese guitarra but simply a method for the English guittar written and published in Portugal; none of the music is Portuguese style, the tuning is for the English guittar and the the stringing is for a 10 string instrument not the 12 string Portuguese guitarra. I think Cabral would argue that Silva Leite's observation are probably correct--the problem is how others have misused what he said. Yes, the English guittar was brought from England to Oporto but it was an instrument for the immigrant British merchants and the Portuguese bourgeois who played salon music on it. Further he would seem to argue that the music of the English guittar did not influence the folk music of the Portuguese peasantry and proletariats. It is true that the English guittar did have an impact on the design of locally made instrument--how much is still to be determined. Before I finish here I want to thrown another wrench into the works. There is a 12-string Portuguese guitarra in the Lisbon city museum (I have seen it) which is believed to be the guitarra of the fado singer Maria Severa in the 1830's. It is dated as being made in 1764 by Joaquim Pedro dois Reis. This instrument does not look like the most 19th century guitarras. It looks like the instruments made in Portugal in the 1920'.s. Apparently this instrument was found in the early 20th century and became the model for instruments since that time. So, according to this story the 20th century Portuguese guitarra is a modern interpretation of an 18th century instrument. This instrument is discussed in Instrumentos Musicais Populares Portugueses, by Ernesto Veiga de Oliveira (2000) page 190. Get this book and read about it for yourself. Regards, Ron Fernández Ron, it seems quite extraordinary that anyone would think that the English guitar was 'given' to the Portuguese by the English to give to improve Portuguese culture! (Britain and Portugal were both rapacious colonists - there's no post-colonial angle here.) -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
