OUT.RA
Barreiro Sound Archive
CIDADE SOM – BARREIRO SOUND ARCHIVE
Cidade Som / Barreiro Sound Archive, a project by OUT.RA, is a free-access online archive with more than 300 sound recordings from the Municipality of Barreiro.
This archive is a space dedicated to preserving the sound memory of Barreiro. It offers sound portraits of the city’s spaces, activities, and memories, developed since 2012 as part of several specific projects, as well as the “Sound Explorers” workshops held in local schools. All of these initiatives share the common goal of contributing to the recognition of the municipality’s heritage from a different perspective. More recently, the website has expanded with recordings made during periods of lockdown; with, for instance, the sounds of the TCB diesel buses that have since stopped running through the city—now part of its memory and historical heritage; and with the sonic atmosphere of an iconic place such as Taberna do Valdemar, one of the last remaining spaces of its kind in the municipality.
In 2013, a documentary film about the creation process of the Barreiro Sound Archive was produced and premiered.
This Sound Archive is also approached from an artistic perspective, and some of its sounds are regularly used as raw material for the composition of new musical works by local, national, and international artists. These works are presented to the public within the framework of OUT.FEST – Barreiro International Exploratory Music Festival, or as part of other programming activities.
OUT.RA – ASSOCIAÇÃO CULTURAL
OUT.RA is a non-profit cultural association formally established in January 2009, although its activity as an informal group dates back to 2004, with the realization of the first edition of OUT.FEST – Barreiro International Exploratory Music Festival, an event it has continued to organize annually without interruption.
OUT.RA is also the organizing body behind SONICA EKRANO – Music Documentary Film Festival, launched in 2021, and the project Cidade Som – Barreiro Sound Archive. In addition, the association plays an active role in energizing local daily life through regular live music programming and by awarding annual Creation Grants to emerging artists from the region. At the national level, the association develops projects in territories such as Castro Marim (where it also implemented the Castro Marim Sound Archive) and Montemor-o-Novo, and works regularly with a wide range of partner organizations across Portugal.
At the international level, OUT.RA has been and continues to be involved in several collaborative projects focused on creation, research, and circulation, working alongside dozens of similar organizations across the European continent. Some of these projects have a strong archival component, such as Unearthing The Music.
CONTACT
E-mail: info@outra.pt
