Saturday, January 18, 2020

Portugal 2016 - Cante Alentejano


Technical Details:
Issue Date: 27 April 2016
Designer: Atelier Design&etc
Printer: Bpost
Process: Offset
Colours: 4 Colours
Size:Stamps: 30,6 x 40 mm, Souvenir sheet: 125 x 95 mm
Values: €0.47, 0.80

About Cante Alentejano

Cante Alentejo, Canto às Vozes or simply Cante, is a style of choral singing whose sole musical instrument is the human voice. Associating music with poetry, it is interpreted irrespective of gender or age.

Its interpreters perform either in organised groups or informally. In its more organised form, choral groups or ranchos can be men only, women only or mixed, adults, children or young adults, or all ages. Informally, it is sung in public or in private at various occasions and events, as in the case of Cante em Taberna (sung in taverns).

It is through Cante that the modas are interpreted – poetic texts traditionally comprised of two stanzas that are almost always linked by a leixa-pren (a stylistic device typical of medieval lyric-poetry from the Iberian Peninsula). Associated with the moda is the cantiga, generally a traditional or popular stanza with four verses. The interpretative canon alternates between the cantiga and the moda. A call and response sequence is developed between the soloist or ponto and the chorus or baixos, while the soloist is introduced by another singer called the alto.

Asagenre, isassociatedwithSouthernPortugal,especiallythe Baixo Alentejo region. Today, however, its geography extends beyond its historical region. It is found in the Algarve, in coastal, central and upper Alentejo and in the peripheries of the cities of Setúbal and Lisbon.

Scholars have differing views on its origins: pre-Roman, Mozarab, Arab, Christian, Jewish or even a result of the presence of African slaves. What can be said for certain is that the genre evolved over the course of the 20th century by freeing itself of the chordophone (viola de Beja) and by continuing the tradition of singing without instrumentation in Central Alentejo. Its call and response mode of interpretation appears to be associated with the evolution in the 18th century of singing in honour of St. John the Baptist and in traditional theatre associated with the Ciclo dos 12 Dias (the period between Christmas Day and Epiphany during which traditional Christmas songs are sung). In a number of villages bordering Spain, a medieval festival named As Santas Cruzes (Holy Crosses) or Invenção da Santa Cruz (Invention of the Holy Cross), is associated with choral singing, an example of which is Vila Nova de São Bento, where formal groups and/or groups formed in school projects continue to sing the ancient forms of popular piety. Aesthetically, in terms of dress and ornamentation, choral groups can be categorised into ethnographic groups, such as Grupo Coral e Etnográfico da Casa do Povo de Serpa (1928), Grupo Coral e Etnográfico Misto Alma Alentejana de Peroguarda (1936), Grupo Coral e Etnográfico Os Camponeses de Vale de Vargo (1968), Grupo Coral e Etnográfico Amigos do Alentejo, in Feijó (1986), and Grupo Coral e Etnográfico da Casa do Povo de Brinches; industry-associated groups, like the one from the Aljustrel mining complex, Grupo Coral do Sindicato dos Mineiros de Aljustrel [1926/1947]; or groups that emulate the orpheonic movement, as typified by Grupo Coral Feminino de Cantares das Alcáçovas (2001). Groups composed of younger members, such as Grupo Coral Os Mainantes, in Pias (2014), choose to wear simpler garments.

On 27 November 2014, Cante Alentejano was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. As a Heritage of Humanity, Cante now lives in a new era where the local meets the global. And it is in this encounter that its contemporaneity is now being played out. Like few other musical genres, Cante has always known how to reinvent itself while being traditional. And it is in this crossover of the old and the new that Cante springs forth, and with it, the entire identity of Alentejo.

Paulo Lima Casa do Cante

Portugal 2017 - Joint Issue With India, Traditional Dances



Technical Details:
Issue Date: 07 January 2017
Designer: Atelier Design & Túlio Coelho
Perforation: 11 1/4 x 11 1/4
Printer: INCM
Process: Offset
Paper: 110 gr
Size: 40 x 30,6 mm
Values: €0.47 (125,000), €0.80 (105,000); SS €1.27 (40,000)

Portugal and India have enjoyed more than 500 years of a meeting of cultures that is extremely enriching for both sides.  Between the two populations there are families ties, both ancient and modern, and there are economic and political opportunities from which to benefit, that can undoubtedly gain leverage from such an old and respected relationship. For all these reasons, the postal operators of Portugal and of India decided to celebrate this centuries-old friendship between the two peoples by means of a joint issue of postage stamps, coinciding with the official visit of the Prime Minister of Portugal to India.

The theme chosen for the stamps in both countries came of the realisation that both Portugal and India possess, in their deepest folkloric roots, two dances with undeniable similarities.  Both were warrior dances, using sticks as props to symbolise ancestral swords: Dandiya, the stick dance of Gujarat, and the dance of the Pauliteiros de Miranda.  The Dandiya (a term from the northeast of India meaning "stick") was created thousands of years ago as an expression of devotion in honour of the mother-goddess Durga.  In this dance, colourful decorated sticks, or dandiyas, represent the swords of the goddess.  This dance, which is still performed today, enacts the mythical battle between the goddess and the demon-king Mahishasura.

The female dancers move rhythmically in circles around the mandvi, wearing traditional dresses with highly coloured accecories - choli, ghagra, and bandhani dupattas.  Their hair is usually adorned with mirrors, pieces of glass or jewels that reflect the light .  In turn, the male dancers, who also dress in the traditional clothing of their regions - turbans and kedias - onto which are sewn mirrors to increase the luminous effect, move in a separate ring to that of the women and in the opposite direction.

The traditional dance, therefore, consists of two independent circles.  The movements of both sets of dancers are energetic, whirling around each other with the sticks (dandiya) in their hands, to the carious rhythms of different types of drum - dhol, dholak, bongo, etc.  The Dandiya dances are mostly performed in the evening during the Navrati festival, in honour of the goddess-mother, in the State of Gujarat.

The dance of the Pauliteiros is the most important folkloric manifestation of Terra de Miranda, although its reach extends far beyond the municipality of Miranda do Douro.

Its origin may lie in the ancient Greek pyrrhic dance, which is thought to have been spread by the Romans throughout the Miranda region.  This was a dance used in teaching and military training in which the performers, lined up in two rows, simulated attack and defence manoeuvres, using sticks as weapons as they moved to the sound of a flute.  According to Antonio Maria Mourinho, this dance is common to other regions on the Iberian Peninsula and incorporates traditions and military presentations that have developed indigenously.

Accompanied by three musical (bagpipe, snare drum and bass drum), the eight dancers in the group have the role of guides or foot soldiers, either left or right, depending on their position.  They wear woollen socks, white skirts with scarves hanging from the waist, white linen shirts, sackcloth waistcoats and hats decorated with ribbons and/or flowers, and the choreographies they perform are known as Ihacos.

The Pauliteiros de Miranda are mostly located throughout the various parishes of the municipality of Miranda do Douro, but there are groups based outside the area, as well as oooutside the country, which also take the name Pauliteiros de Miranda.  There are groups formed specifically by certain age groups and currently there are also some groups formed exclusively by women.

Note: The text on the Pauliteiros de Miranda is written by Alberto A. Araujo Fernandes, Master in the Cultural Heritage of Miranda

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Poland 1994 - Traditional Folk Dances


3000 Polish Złoty - Mazur = Masurian/ Masurian dance (Mazurka)
4000 Polish Złoty - Góralski = from the Gorals/ Highlander dance
3000 Polish Złoty - Krakowiak = Cracovienne / Cracovian dance (Krakowiak)


Uzbekistan 2003 - Headdress of Uzbekistan


Technical Details:
Date of Issue: 07 October 2003
Width: 30 mm
Height: 42 mm
Number in set: 7
Layout/Format: Sheet of 32
Perforations: 14 by 14
Stamp Issuing Authority: JSC Uzbekistan Markasi
Printer: SPS Davlat belgisi

Headdress of Uzbekistan:
100 Uzbekistani Soʻm - Kula-tung Shakhrisabz, XIX-XX Centuries
100 Uzbekistani Soʻm - Men's skull cap XIX-XX Centuries
100 Uzbekistani Soʻm - Smart skull cap, Khorazm, XIX-XX Centuries
125 Uzbekistani Soʻm - Woman's skull cap, Khiva, XIX-XX Centuries
125 Uzbekistani Soʻm - Kokand, XIX-XX Centuries
155 Uzbekistani Soʻm - Children's smart scull-cap XIX-XX Centuries
155 Uzbekistani Soʻm - Men's scull-cap, Samarkand XIX-XX Centuries