The Centrality of the Guitar in Guinga: Tensions between Visuality and Audiotactility
Name: JOÃO VICTOR CASTRO CHEQUETTO
Publication date: 23/02/2026
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| CELSO GARCIA DE ARAÚJO RAMALHO | Examinador Externo |
| FABIANO ARAUJO COSTA | Presidente |
| JOSE EDUARDO COSTA SILVA | Examinador Interno |
Summary: In this study, we develop an investigation into the formative processes of Guinga’s work from a mediological and cognitive perspective, centered on the Theory of Audiotactile Music (TMA). The research is grounded in the understanding of the guitar not merely as an instrument, but as an agent of a cognitive mediation that activates gestural and perceptual schemata responsible for compositional organization and musical discourse. Based on the distinction between visual and audiotactile regimes, we problematize the insufficiency of analytical approaches grounded exclusively in notation to account for creative practices rooted in bodily rationality and in phonography. The phonographic analysis of recordings representative of different phases of Guinga’s production made it possible to highlight the centrality of hand-shape configurations as “mental scores” and the recurrence of audiotactile patterns originating in Brazilian guitar practice. We demonstrate that the harmonic complexity of his work does not result from a simple transposition of procedures from erudite writing, but from an intricate elaboration of audiotactile processes, stabilized and transmitted through the technological mediation of recording. By reinterpreting the recurrent classification of his music as situated “between the popular and the classical” as an effect of distinct cognitive regimes, the research seeks to contribute to the expansion of musicological theoretical tools, pointing to the need for analytical models capable of integrating gesture, body, instrument, and phonography in the understanding of musical formativity.
