Antonia Kölble

ÁGUA MÚSICA FOGO | WATER MUSIC FIRE: THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE NATURAL MUSICAL HERITAGE OF CURURU AND SIRIRI IN THE PANTANAL WETLAND OF CORUMBÁ AND LADÁRIO (BRAZIL) [WORKING TITLE]

Cururu and siriri are two musical genres from the Brazilian Pantanal, a seasonal pulsing wetland situated in the western part of the country. Since 2019, the biodiverse biome has suffered from recurring droughts and large-scale fires which have had a considerable impact on cultural practices.

My research focuses on the interconnection between the musical practices of cururu and siriri, and the Pantanal biome. These two elements have been designated as living and natural heritage by the Brazilian IPHAN and UNESCO. Due to their profound interconnectedness, I consider them as an ecomusicosystem, or, in other words, a natural musical heritage.

In this study, I investigate the impacts of climate change on the region’s natural musical heritage, with the aim of providing a basis to discuss potential reparations for the climate-induced loss and damage to cultural bearers and to promote the safeguarding of the tradition. In contrast to natural and material cultural heritage, the impact of climate change on living heritage is less quantifiable and less apparent due to its intangible nature, a subject that has received limited scholarly attention.

To this end, I will analyze the impact of droughts, fires and smoke on the musical heritage and its practitioners through participant observation and qualitative interviews with cultural bearers conducted during field research stays in Corumbá and Ladário in 2017 and 2024. Therefore, I encompass both the period preceding and coinciding with the dramatic droughts and fires that have occurred since 2019.

Preliminary results indicate that droughts, fires, and smoke have multifaceted impacts on the health and working conditions of practitioners and instrument makers. Furthermore, climate change influences the reception and content of cururu and siriri songs, as well as the cultural significance of the Bath of Saint John, a ritual in which cururu and siriri play a significant role.

My research goal is to illustrate how ecological processes and cultural practices are interconnected and shape each other. Accordingly, they traverse the conceptual boundaries of natural and living heritage. The primary goal is to raise awareness of the consequences of climate change on cultural practices that influence human values and the daily lives of individuals.

Segue abaixo a tradução para a língua portuguesa. Please, refer to the Portuguese translation below.

Current Publications

“The Brazilian Pantanal as an Ecomusicosystem”, in: Journal of Cultural Management and Cultural Policy 9/2, 2023, p. 85–112, doi:10.14361/zkmm-2023-0204

„Musik(wissenschaft) in Zeiten des Klimawandels“, 2021, online: https://jimdo-storage.global.ssl.fastly.net/file/63de9bb9-8e45-4167-bb84-1a95836e40a9/DVSM_Roundtable_Musik%20und%20Klima_final.pdf

LECTURES

“Drought and fires in the Brazilian Pantanal: How to identify climate-induced damage to intangible cultural heritage and appropriate reparations?”. Lecture at the conference on An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Heritage Reparations: Responding to Climate-Induced Damages, Leiden University, Leiden (Netherlands), 2025.

“El Pantanal brasileño como sistema ecológico-musical. Un estudio de caso en el área de la ecomusicología”. Keynote speech at the Musicology Day on Music, Ecology and Environment, Universidad del Valle, Cali (Colombia), 2024.

“The musical heritage of the Brazilian Pantanal and the 2020 wildfires. First observations on an ecomusicosystem affected by climate change”. Lecture at the conference on Music and Climate Change. Artistic Action in Times of Crisis, Folkwang Universität der Künste, Essen 2023.

“Die Krachinstrumente der Narren am Oberrhein”. Poster presentation at the conference on Instrumentenforschung 2.0, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle 2021.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION

“Musicology in Times of Trouble”. Musik und Wissenschaft in Zeiten von Krankheit, Krieg und Krisen: Young scholars’ symposium at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar, 2023: https://www.nmz.de/bildung-praxis/hochschulen-akademien/musicology-times-trouble

EXHIBITIONS

Água Pantanal Fogo: Environmental sounds collected in the Brazilian Pantanal in 2024, arranged to accompany the photographic exhibition of Lalo de Almeida and Luciano Candisani at the Brazilian Embassy in Berlin, 2025.

Klingende Objekte. Musikinstrumente aus 10 Jahren Transcultural Music Studies Weimar-Jena: Exhibition of musical instruments at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, 2019. Part of the seminar “Sounding Objects” held by Prof. Dr. Tiago de Oliveira Pinto and Dr. Juliane Stückrad.