CoLABOR Playlist - Work Songs vol. 1
CoLABOR proposes to publish playlists about work, in different volumes. These playlists consist of sets of songs/musical pieces written by members of the CoLABOR team or guests, with the typical length of an LP (approximately 8-15 tracks; 30-45min), and accompanied by a short text. The criterion is simply that there is a representation/description/impression of the work in its many aspects. And of course, the personal taste of the author(s) of each volume.
There will certainly be unforgivable omissions, abject choices and an endless list of wrongdoings in each volume. But there will also, we hope, be some happy encounters.
Volume 1 was written by João Vasco Lopes, CoLABOR's Executive Director.
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The CoLABOR - Work Songs vol.1 playlist begins with Banana Boat (Day-O), composed by Harry Belafonte. Basically, because it was listening to it that gave rise to the idea of this initiative. But also because this song starts with a shout ("Day-O") and a shout is always a good way to start something. The song is about Jamaican dock workers who load bananas into containers. They do this at night to avoid the sun ("Work all night on a drink of rum/Stack banana 'til the morning comes") and return home at dawn ("Daylight comes and we want to gohome").
And while some stop working when morning comes, others only stop when the sun goes down, as is the case in I Be so Glad When the Sun Goes Down. This song reflects, at its extreme, the dehumanization of work: it is a song sung by slaves in the southern fields of the United States of America.
Apart from Banana Boat, other songs on this list tell us about specific professions. In Canoeiro (Pescaria), by Dorival Caymmi, an approximation to the functional content of a fisherman ("Surround the fish/Battle the oar/Pull the rope/Collect the net/O Canoeiro/Pull the net from the sea"); in Tonada del Cabestrero , by Simon Diaz, a shepherd who sings at dawn ("El cabrestrero cantando/ Su copla en la madruga"). Other songs go in a similar direction, such as Miner's Song by Woody Guthrie, Ó pastor que choras, by Lopes-Graça, and Maçadeiras do Linho, performed by João Aguardela.
Anyone who studies labor issues quickly comes across the insider-outsider theory, originally developed by Assar Lindbeck and Dennis Snower in 1988, in which insiders are workers with open-ended contracts and outsiders are workers who are unemployed or have non-permanent contracts. These authors wanted to understand why unemployment levels were higher in Europe than in the US, pointing to characteristics of labor market institutions and high turnover costs. This is probably not what was on Serge Gainsbourg's mind when he wrote Qui est in, qui est out. But it's what comes to mind whenever he hears it. The question is relevant: who are the outsiders in Portugal's employment system? Qui est out?
In addition to the contractual relationship, another important employment issue is working hours. And if Dolly Parton's working hours are 9 to 5, the Portuguese band Quarteto 1111 refers to a creature who went to work in the foundry "from eight to six/according to the law".
The reduction in working hours was one of the greatest achievements of the trade union movement. Which Side Are You On? addresses the issue of trade unionism and the organization and camaraderie between workers. According to the Cultural Action Group (GAC), they are the ones who "build the houses, the cities and the bridges".
Matt Elliott, in Broken Bones, reserves a less than favorable treatment for those who unfairly distribute the wealth generated ("Though they'll break our backs, won't share the spoils/Time to put some backs against the wall"). In its place, Alto Cutelo, by Os Tubarões, tells us about immigrants who found work in Lisbon as cheap labor and without decent living conditions ("At CUF, Lisnave and J. Pimenta/Explorado/Mão de obra barato pá mâs qui trabadja/Mão de obra barato, barraca sem luz").
After a short pregão - a song sung by vendors all over the country - the list ends with O milho da nossa terra, performed by the Orfeão Universitário do Porto. As the voices here say, let's treat corn - its study, conditions and institutions - with affection. Sorry, the work. I meant work.
