The Last "cante" Singers?

• Photographer
  Rafael G. Antunes

Strongly rooted in the collective memory of the Alentejo people (South of Portugal) as a work song, some musicologists attribute its origin to the Gregorian chant of Arab culture, while others place their roots in the pre-Roman period. Polyphonic choral song, the "Cante" accompanied men and women who worked the fields manually. This form of "Cante" manifestation has gradually been lost in time with the arrival of agricultural industrialization in the late 19th century in Portugal. With the rural exodus of the younger generations will we soon be facing an archaeological collective memory?