“Either We Work or Deal With Music”: Notes on Gaps Between 'Musical Practice' and 'Profession' on Daily Experiences of Musicians in Salvador

Abstract

Based on a process of participant observation among musicians in the city of Salvador and also on semi-structured interviews applied to them, I reflect on their professional experiences addressing some of its particularities. Focusing on the contradictions experienced by such agents while pursuing conciliate two fields with peculiar and distinct characteristics – both artistic and economic – I analyze some of the obstacles faced by my interlocutors in assimilating the professional condition. The disconnection socially established between musical practice and asceticism, as well as the conditioning of that practice to essentialist values attributed to its protagonists, such as talent, appears as factors capable to reinforce the gap about the shared understanding regarding the musicians' labor and professional work. Another important factor refers to the absence of objective and rational criteria for performance evaluation in the musical field.