CoLABOR aims to publish playlists about work, in different volumes. These playlists consist of sets of songs/musical pieces created by members of the CoLABOR Team or guests, with the typical length of an LP (approximately 8-15 tracks; 30-45 min), and accompanied by a short text. The only criterion is that there be a representation/description/impression of the work in its multiple facets. And of course, the personal taste of the author(s) of each volume.
Certainly, each volume will contain unforgivable omissions, abject choices, an endless list of misdeeds. But there will also be, we hope, some happy encounters.
Volume 1 was prepared by João Vasco Lopes, Executive Director of CoLABOR.
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The CoLABOR – Work Songs vol.1 begins with Banana Boat (Day-O), composed by Harry Belafonte. Primarily because it was upon hearing it that the idea for this initiative arose. But also because this song begins with a shout (“Day-O”), and a shout is always a good way to start anything. The song is about Jamaican dockworkers loading bananas into containers. They do this at night to avoid the harsh sun (“Work all night on a drink of rum/Stack banana 'til the morning come”) and return home at dawn (“Daylight come and we want to go home”).
While some stop working when morning arrives, others only stop when the sun sets, as is the case in " I Be So Glad When the Sun Goes Down." This song, in its extreme form, reflects the dehumanization of labor: it is a song sung by slaves in the southern fields of the United States of America.
Beyond Banana Boat, other songs on this list speak to us of specific professions. In Canoeiro (Pescaria), by Dorival Caymmi, there is an approach to the functional role of a fisherman (“He circles the fish/Beats the oar/Pulls the rope/Harvests the net/Oh Canoeist/Pulls the net from the sea”); in Tonada del Cabestrero, by Simon Diaz, a shepherd sings at dawn (“El cabrestrero cantando/ Su copla en la madruga”). Other songs follow a similar line, such as Miner's Song by Woody Guthrie, Ó pastor que choras, by Lopes-Graça, and Maçadeiras do Linho, performed by João Aguardela.
Anyone studying labor issues quickly encounters the insider-outsider, originally developed by Assar Lindbeck and Dennis Snower in 1988, in which insiders are workers with permanent contracts, and outsiders are unemployed workers or those with non-permanent contracts. These authors aimed to understand why unemployment levels were higher in Europe than in the US, pointing to characteristics of labor market institutions and turnover . This probably wasn't what Serge Gainsbourg had in mind when he composed " Qui est in, qui est out" (Who's in, who's out). But it's what comes to mind whenever I hear it. The question is relevant: who are the outsiders in the Portuguese employment system? Qui est out?
Beyond the contractual relationship, another labor issue of utmost importance is working hours. And if for Dolly Parton this schedule is 9 to 5, the Portuguese band Quarteto 1111 alludes to a creature that went to work in the foundry "from eight to six/according to the laws".
The reduction of working hours was one of the greatest achievements of the trade union movement. In Which Side Are You On?, the issue of trade unionism and the organization and camaraderie among workers is addressed. According to the Cultural Action Group (GAC), it is these workers who “build the houses, the cities and the bridges”.
Matt Elliott, in Broken Bones, reserves a rather unfavorable treatment for those who unfairly distribute the wealth they generate (“Though they'll break our backs, won't share the spoils/Time to put some backs against the wall”). In his place, Alto Cutelo, from Os Tubarões, tells us about immigrants who found work in Lisbon as cheap labor without decent living conditions (“At CUF, Lisnave and J. Pimenta/Exploited/Cheap labor, but who works/Cheap labor, shack without light”).
After a short serenade – a chant sung by vendors throughout the country – the list ends with "The Corn of Our Land," performed by the University Choir of Porto. As the voices here proclaim, let us treat corn – its study, conditions, and institutions – with care. Excuse me, the work. I meant the work.
