10 Years of Cante, the book by Ana Baião, the photojournalist of Cante

Sung in chorus and without the use of musical instruments, Cante Alentejano is a popular manifestation characteristic of the various municipalities of the Beja district, Baixo Alentejo, being maintained by choral groups, some of them already centenarians, in informal contexts, whether working in the field or at a party. The lyrics talk about feelings and moments of everyday life.

It is not specific to any social stratum but is generally associated with rural classes. The first choral group emerged in 1926, associated with the workers of the São Domingos Mines, followed by a second group in Serpa in 1927.

On November 27, 2014, Cante Alentejano was declared by UNESCO as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Over the past ten years, photojournalist Ana Baião has been documenting Cante throughout Alentejo, as well as in Greater Lisbon, in various initiatives and groups. She has published two books to date: “Cante – Soul of Alentejo” in 2017, by RCP Edições; and “Cuba Cante Tabernas e Talhas” in 2021, at the invitation of the Municipality of Cuba. She photographed for two CDs – “Alentejo Ensemble,” by the Rancho de Cantadores de Paris, in 2019; and “Cante ao Menino na Capital,” by the Group ALCante, of the Alcântara Parish Council, with the participation of other choral groups from the capital Lisbon, in 2021.

It can be said with certainty that no photographer has documented Cante Alentejano as much as Ana Baião. Promoting Cante has been one of her causes, and for this reason, the publisher Tradisom accepted the challenge of publishing, in October, a photography book commemorating the tenth anniversary of the UNESCO Declaration.

Citing the words of Ana Paula Amendoeira, regional director of Culture in Alentejo, “We are lucky to have Ana Baião who follows, accompanies the women and men who sing Cante, everywhere, to document them, to dignify them, to always rescue them, through imagery, from decades and centuries of suffering and poverty and so many things. We owe this photographer of Cante, this artist who captures Alentejo and shows us in each photograph what Miguel Torga wrote about the Alentejans: It is necessary to have a great human dignity, a very deep certainty in oneself, to wear a sheep’s wool coat with the grace of an ambassador.”

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