Histórias magnéticas
[Magnetic Stories]

Histórias Magnéticas is a project for children by musician Sérgio Pelágio, which is focused on soundtrack composition for stories aimed at young people.

Its main goal is to bring children into an artistic universe that intersects theatre, literature and music, inviting them watch stories being told, and "commented on" by accompanying live musical. Since 2009, the project has built up as a repertoire of "musical tales" – a novel extension of Sérgio Pelágio's experience as composer of soundtracks for performing arts projects.

The result is a story-telling-concert for electric guitar and voice. Sérgio Pelágio and Isabel Gaivão interpret short stories live, recreating the environments of the source texts, and constructing – in real time and together with the audience – new meanings for the narrated situations. Through music, suggestion and images, children are encouraged to enter the world of the stories being told and their characters, creatively unfolding the scenes that they hear.

The listening of each story is followed by an expression workshop aimed at working on the presented material in a dynamic, plastic, and open way. Great importance is given to the musicality of the text, with the audience searching in the story for elements that suggest sounds and rhythms which influenced the end result: words, expressions, images.

Histórias Magnéticas [Magnetic Stories] is aimed primarily at children aged 6 to 10. Each session lasts approximately 90 minutes.

It is a technically simple project prone to touring. It was designed to be presented in schools, libraries, and in unconventional, informal, and intimate spaces, indoors or outdoors, where the promotion of proximity and interaction between performers and audience may be possible.

Its aim is to reach different audiences, cross continents and meet children throughout the broad Portuguese language world. The project's conception, with a strong pedagogical component, is based on the articulation of music, narration and gestures coordinated to the beat, giving the show unique characteristics that allow it to overcome linguistic barriers, stimulate the audiences’ sensitivity to different cultural references, and foster the discovery of a new vocabulary through the workshops that follow the story telling.

In addition to Portugal, Histórias Magnéticas was already presented in Spain, France, Timor, Cape Verde, and Macau. At the end of 2018, the project’s 10th anniversary was celebrated with the recording of a CD (published by BOCA-Palavras que Alimentam) in which the project's repertoire was compiled.

To date, Histórias Magnéticas include the following musical tales:

A bomba e o general [The bomb and the general]

after Umberto Eco’s homonymous story

Enquanto o meu cabelo crescia [While my hair grew]

original story by Isabel Minhós Martins

O meu primeiro Dom Quixote [My first Don Quixote]

after Alice Vieira’s adaptation

Nungu e a Senhora Hipopótamo [Nungu and the Ladie Hippo]

after Babette Cole’s homonymous story

Um estranho barulho de asas [A strange sound of wings]

after Alice Vieira’s story in Macau

Uma Galinha [A Chicken]