ABSTRACT
There are many self-taught musicians in Brazil who support themselves fully or partially as performers. Multilayered conceptions of blind musicianship, such as the idea that deprivation of sight is compensated for by hypersensitivity to sound, emerge in the life stories of many blind people. The aim of the authors was to listen to narratives by five adult blind musicians about their pathways to musicianship within the Brazilian reality. Their results show that the pervasiveness of the imaginary of blind musicianship seems to trigger members of the community to initiate blind children into the world of music by giving them instruments to play with.
