Método básico de assovio Gomero-Tupi, 2014-2016 [Série Turista Transcendental]

Método básico de assovio Gomero-Tupi, 2014-2016
Video monocanal formato 1920x1080 (vertical)
dur. 50 minutos
Assovio gomero captado em Las Palmas, Gran Canário - Oliver Escuela Hernandez
Captura de som e assistência - Auguste Trichet
Filmagem/câmera - Isabel Escobar 
edição de video e audio - Isabel Escobar
Revisão e locução em Tupi antigo - Eduardo de Almeida Navarro


Basic Method of Gomero-Tupi Whistling

Basic Method of Gomero-Tupi Whistling , , 2014-2016
mono-canal single-channel video
1920 x 1080 [vertical]
length 50’
Gomero Whistling recorded in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria - Oliver Escuela Hernandez
Sound recording and general assistance - Auguste Trichet
camera - Isabel Escobar
Video and audio editing - Isabel Escobar
Proofreading and Colonial Tupi narration - Eduardo de Almeida Navarro

Very little is known of the ethnicities who once lived on the seven Canary Islands, before the Spanish took control of them in the 14th century. Little remained aside from a collection of names of enslaved warriors, a few reports of heroic feats and noble lineages, and a few thousand skulls exhibited in the display cases of an anthropology museum which, to this day, serves more to demonstrate the conquistadors’ brutality. Still, the improbable did occur, overcoming all adversity; a single language, whose transmission is strictly oral, not only successfully resisted the invader but also adapted to him: the silbo gomero – a whistled language, today used only by the inhabitants of La Gomera and considered an oral and intangible cultural heritage.
A man born on the island of Tenerife, clearly of Spanish origin, crossed the ocean along with Portuguese Jesuits to become a wise saint in Brazil: José de Anchieta. Unlike his compatriots, the future saint learned to respect the indigenous peoples and, by applying the fundamentals of inculturation, later authored Arte da Gramática da Língua Mais Falada na Costa do Brasil. [“Grammar Art of the Most Spoken Language on the Coast of Brazil”]. His intention was always to catechize the Tupi, but he ended up accomplishing much more since he defended them against the abuses of Portuguese colonists. During the months in which he was held captive by the Tamoios, he conceived of the Poema à Virgem [“Poem to the Virgin”] but was unable to immediately transcribe it, as he had no pen and paper. He was seen on the beach writing and rewriting the poem’s 5000 verses in the sand. It was also said that he levitated in the presence of the Indians who, terrified, thought him to be some kind of sorcerer. Could this have been a trance? And what if, in that trance, the future saint heard the silbo gomero of his homeland and endeavored to teach it to the Tupi?