CfP: Lusophone Musical Flows in Transcultural Perspectives (TRANS - Transcultural Music Journal) Deadline: 15.09.2026
TRANS - Transcultural Music Journal
Call for Papers: Lusophone Musical Flows in Transcultural Perspectives
Guest Editors:
Simone Pereira de Sá Federal Fluminense University - UFF
Simone Luci Pereira Paulista University – UNIP and State University of Rio de Janeiro – UERJ
Bart Vanspauwen - New University of Lisbon
In recent decades, music has consolidated itself as an important vector of transcultural connection between cultures, nations, regions, and communities, articulating senses of belonging, contestation of identities, and differences. These processes are constituted through material and symbolic migrations and diasporas process (Aparicio and Jáquez, 2003; Kiwan and Meinhof, 2011; Pereira, 2017; Sardo, 2011; Stokes, 2021; Treece, 2020), encompassing flows of people, sounds, and social imaginaries. In the contemporary context, marked by the centrality of digital platforms in the production, circulation, and mediation of cultural content, musical flows cross linguistic, geographical, and sociocultural boundaries with increasing intensity, bringing the need to unfold vocabularies and understandings about the articulations between music, diasporas, and cultural flows (Gilroy, 2026). In the Lusophone space—historically marked by diasporas, migrations, and colonial legacies and wounds— such dynamics take on specific contours, considering the discussion around the very notion of Lusophony, in its controversies and disputes (Cidra, 2023; Martins, 2018; Vanspauwen, 2010).
Genres associated with peripheral pop circuits (Pereira de Sá, 2021) and urban circuits (such as Brazilian funk, kuduro, kizomba, afrobeat, trap, brega-funk, among others) circulate through transnational networks, producing processes of appropriation, reconfiguration, and hybridization that challenge established musical categories. At the same time, artists and communities mobilize performances, corporealities, and narratives that articulate diasporic experiences and postcolonialimaginaries in dialogue with global pop (Soares, 2014).
This thematic dossier seeks to bring together contributions that investigate the musical flows of Lusophone communities in the context of platform culture (Poell et al, 2021), exploring their aesthetic, socio-technical, and identity dimensions. It is of interest to understand how musical practices, performances, and narratives are produced, mediated, and circulate in digital ecosystems, as well as what the transcultural alliances that emerge from these processes are and how they are constituted.
We would like to highlight, in particular, the reflection on the following thematic areas:
1. Peripheral Pop Musical Genres - Analyses of appropriations, reconfigurations, zones of contamination, and "bastardizations" (Rincón, 2016) of musical genres in the Lusophone world in dialogue with global pop culture. This axis includes discussions on sonic hybridizations, transnational circulation, and processes of cultural legitimation.
2. Performances and Corporealities - Studies on the flows of bodies, accents, and hybrid sonorities that configure contemporary musical expressions. The aim is to understand the performative dimensions of music, including vocalities, visualities, choreographies, and identity enactments, and their sociopolitical implications.
3. Cultures and Spaces of Diaspora – analyses of past and present diasporas in Lusophone contexts, articulating reflections and research on musical and/or media practices of migrant groups, their networks of action, constructions of identity/difference, symbolic capital mobilized, and articulation with artists, producers, audiences, and other local actors.
4. Lusophony as a Contested Notion - Theoretical-reflective and/or empirical analyses that focus on the notion of Lusophony, its trajectory, contexts, limits, implications, controversies, appropriations, resistances, and disputes of meaning articulated to musical practices.
5. Narratives, Platforms, and Imaginaries – Reflections on the stories and imaginaries produced through these musical expressions and their negotiations with the digital ecosystem. We seek analyses of diasporic experiences, postcolonial memories, and identity tensions narrated, performed, and shared in digital networks, as well as transcultural alliances between Lusophone artists, audiences, and musical communities.
This special issue aims to contribute to the development of multidisciplinary theoretical and methodological approaches for the study of musical interculturalities in Lusophone contexts. Contributions from areas such as ethnomusicology, sound studies, popular music, platform studies, cultural studies, anthropology of music, audiovisual studies, media studies, among others, are particularly encouraged. Theoretical articles, case studies, ethnographies, comparative analyses, and methodological reflections that engage with the proposed themes will be welcome.
Suggested (but not exclusive) topics:
• Transnational circulation of Lusophone musical genres
• Digital platforms and the economy of peripheral music
• TikTok, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Lusophone digital musical ecologies
• Hybrid aesthetics and sonic hybridizations in the Lusophone space
• Music, diaspora, and post-colonial imaginaries
• Body performances and visualities in peripheral pop music
• Remix culture, sampling, and the “bastardization” of genres in the Lusophone universe
• Collaborative networks between artists from Brazil, Africa, and Portugal
• Algorithms, visibility, and cultural disputes in Lusophone music
• Music videos, audiovisuals, and the digital circulation of Lusophone music
• Independent music production and alternative circuits of Lusophone pop
The TRANS – Transcultural Music Journal accepts contributions in the form of original and unpublished research articles and evaluates them through an external and anonymous peer review system. The manuscripts received will be evaluated, firstly, by the dossier's guest editors to determine if they meet the minimum quality standards and to continue the process.
Interested individuals should submit the article according to the journal's guidelines.
The following link provides access to:
guidelines for authors - https://www.sibetrans.com/trans/informacion-para-los-autores
evaluation criteria - https://www.sibetrans.com/trans/presentacion
Click here to see the indexing of TRANS – Transcultural Music Journal.
https://www.sibetrans.com/trans/indexacion
Submission of Proposals Submissions will be accepted until September 15, 2026.
Send to the email address: Trans2027.1.dossier[at]gmail[dot]com
Calendar Opening of the call for papers:
June 8, 2026
Deadline for receiving articles: September 15, 2026
Evaluation period: October, November and December 2026
Receipt of revised articles: January 15, 2027
Start of editorial review: January 30, 2027
Publication: April 2027
References
Aparicio, Francis; Jáquez, Claudia (eds). 2003. Musical migrations: transnacionalism and cultural hybridity in Latin/oAmerica. Palgrave Macmillan.
Cidra, Rui 2022. “Identidades de diáspora, cosmopolitismo e a promessa da cidadania”. Análise Social, 57 (1): 56-84.
Gilroy, Paul. 2026. “Transformed in Transit (entrevista a Abirami Logendran)”. Kunstkritikk – Nordic Art Review. https://kunstkritikk.com/transformed-intransit/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAb21jcAQeWFZleHRuA 2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA81NjcwNjczNDMzNTI0MjcAAadPJI_DOxT9-OFBaqcZ5p66HFC0-PlZeVGwJKJz6TZdUH1baAtCWQeXV79zSA_aem_7ok6gPXZGtnz6bxwcAfweQ Accessed on: March 20, 2026.
Kiwan, Nadia; Meinhof, Ulrike Hanna. 2011. “Music and Migration: A Transnational Approach”. Music and Arts in Action. 3(3): 3-20.
Martins, Moisés de Lemos. 2018. “A lusofonia no contexto das identidades transnacionais e transcontinentais”. Letrônica, 11(1): 3–11.
Pereira de Sá, Simone. 2021. Música pop-periférica brasileira: videoclipes, performances e tretas na cultura digital. Appris.
Pereira, Simone Luci. 2017. “Música, cosmopolitismos e cidades: experimentações juvenis das migrações em São Paulo”. Interin, 22 (1): 23-40.
Poell, Thomas; Nieborg, David and Duffy, Erin. 2021. Platforms and Cultural Production. Polity Press.
Rincón, Omar. 2016. “O popular na comunicação: culturas bastardas + cidadanias celebrities”. Eco-Pós, 19(3): 27–49.
Sardo, Susana. 2011. Guerras de Jasmim e Mogarim: Música, Identidade e Emoções em Goa. Texto Editores.
Soares, Thiago. 2014. “Abordagens teóricas para estudos sobre cultura pop”. Logos, 2(24): 1-14.
Stokes, Martin. 2021. “Migration and Music”. Music Research Annual, 1(0): 1-24.
Treece, David (ed.). 2020. Music Scenes and Migrations: Space and Transnationalism in Brazil, Portugal and Atlantic. Anthem press.
Vanspauwen, Bart. 2010. The (R)evolution of Lusophone Musics in the City of Lisbon. Tese de mestrado, Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
Simone Luci Pereira
Professora Titular - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação - Universidade Paulista
Professora Colaboradora - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação - Univ. do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Pesquisadora do CNPq - Bolsista de Produtividade em Pesquisa
Editora Associada - IASPM Journal
Coordenadora - URBESOM (Grupo de Pesquisa Culturas Urbanas, Música e Comunicação)
http://lattes.cnpq.br/0246627334162343
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7412-2129