“It all depends on where we grew up and our own culture. I can’t say there are conflicts in the perception of sounds, just different points of view”
Today many Brazilians have roots that branch out into a puzzle of distant countries, cultures, languages, and traditions, the result of migration that has affected the country since the late 1800s. Camila is from Domingos Martins, a small town in the state of Espírito Santo founded by the German community where even today the architecture, folklore and culture are German. But her ancestry is much more complex. Her great-grandfather was Polish and arrived in Brazil at the age of 14, her grandfather spoke German and her father only learned Portuguese at the age of nine when he started school. Her mother, on the other hand, has Spanish and Polish ancestry. “There’s a lot going on in my family”.
In Brazil, Camila graduated in Music, specializing in Soundtrack Composition, during which she fell in love with Foley. A technique used in cinematic sound composition.
“I love culture, art, music, theatre, cinema. I love singing and playing music. I had a band in my city”.
There she became the director of a music school, a job she loved very much that enabled her also to collaborate in the organization of the city’s Winter Festival. Ten days dedicated to classical and popular music that attracted people from all over Brazil and the world. However, as much as she loved what she was doing, she always had the desire to continue her studies in Europe. She applied for several scholarships and was selected for an interview at the University of Messina, in Sicily.
“When I won the scholarship, I had no doubts. I said to myself ‘I’m leaving my job, I’m leaving everything behind, and I’m going because I know it will be a fantastic experience’, and it was!”.
Applying for a visa was straightforward, she just had to translate all her documents and go to the consulate in Rio de Janeiro. In 2017, Camila began a master’s degree in Performing Arts and Multimedia Production, which she describes as “a package of wonderful things”. She was able to continue studying art, theatre and cinema – her greatest passion – and live in a university residence overlooking the sea with people from Russia, Argentina, Jamaica, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and many other countries. What made her experience incredible.
“I got to know many people and cultures other than the Italian one, which broadened my horizons, as I come from a very small town”.
The first few months at university were not easy. The courses were all in Italian and she struggled with the language and the exams. Unlike in Brazil the exams were oral, and she had to study a lot of books. However, during her studies she had the opportunity to participate in two Erasmus programmes. The first was at the Gil Vicente Academic Theatre at the University of Coimbra, where she worked in show production. The second was in Gandia, a small town near Valencia, where she worked in an archaeological museum and organised art exhibitions. She also experienced the arrival of the covid-19 pandemic in Messina. Living in the university residence she did not suffer from loneliness, and “from the balcony, I could see the sea and Calabria”. However it was alone, in her room, on a rainy day that she graduated. It was a moment she would have liked to share and celebrate.
She recently completed her PON Green PhD in Literature specialising in Ethnomusicology at the University of Turin, where she concentrated on the study of soundscapes – the everyday sounds we hear and how these are perceived. During her studies, she developed a prototype smartphone application that enables users to evaluate their sound environment and determine whether it is comfortable or not. A qualitative analysis that falls within the broader theme of noise pollution. Everyone’s perception of sound is unique, a topic Camila explored in depth during an internship at the Foundation Institute for the Visually Impaired people in Milan. “Sound mitigation and reduction help many people, but especially those who need a little more silence to get around”.
During her PhD, she travelled to Brazil to conduct a study on sound perception in Brazilian favelas, “I was able to incorporate my knowledge, culture and people into my research”. From this study she concluded that the perception of sounds is relative, and that people who grow up in favelas are accustomed to music and loud noises, which they therefore do not perceive as disruptive. In contrast with what external people may perceive. Even when Camila thinks of familiar sounds, she feels the loud noises associated with Carnival in Brazil. A point of reference that she misses very much.
“It all depends on where we grew up and our own culture. I can’t say there are conflicts in the perception of sounds, just different points of view”.
She would like to return to Brazil to hold a course on soundscapes at the Winter Festival, or to share her knowledge. Studies that, in her opinion, are already present at the University of São Paulo, and that she hopes will become actual courses in cinema, music or ethnomusicology, because “different populations have different types of sounds”.
Arriving in Sicily was a bit like settling in Italy gradually. Sicilian culture is so similar to Brazilian culture that “when I arrived, I felt at home. The people, the sea, the food, everything contributed”. Camila has lived in southern Italy for longer than in the north partly because her partner, whom she met in Brazil before seeking opportunities abroad, is from Puglia and she likes the Salento culture, the food, the taranta and pizzica. She currently sees her future in Italy and, although she tries to return to Brazil every year for Christmas and New Year, she misses it a lot.
“It feels saudade, which is different from nostalgia, it’s something you miss. It feels saudade for my family, friends and food”.
She misses the sounds of home, such as hearing Portuguese spoken around her. When speaking another language she feels different, which is why she and her partner only speak Portuguese at home. Today, they live together in Milan and she has grown accustomed to the sound of the tram, which was initially unfamiliar to her. She hopes to develop her prototype in the future, perhaps as a researcher, even if she is open to all opportunities. “But they must be related to culture, it is my passion”.