Sérgio Godinho

He was born in Porto on 31 August 1945. At the age of 20 he left Portugal because he refused to fight in the colonial war, and lived in exile in Geneva, Paris, Amsterdam, Brazil and Vancouver.¹ On 10 November 1970 he was the first to sing, at the Mutualité, in Paris, at the concert “La Chanson de Combat Portugaise”, with José Mário Branco, Tino Flores, Luís Cília and José Afonso.²

In 1971 he took part, as musician and author, in Mudam-se os Tempos, Mudam-se as Vontades (Times Change, Wills Change), José Mário Branco’s first solo record.¹ His first LP, Os Sobreviventes (The Survivors), was recorded in April that year — and only released in September 1972, as a record-company strategy — at the Château d'Hérouville, in France, with José Mário Branco as producer and on flute; one of the songs, “Que força é essa” (What force is that), spoke to the badly paid workers in Portugal and in emigration: “I saw you working the whole day long” (Vi-te a trabalhar o dia inteiro).³ In Portugal, the censors banned the record, authorised it and banned it again; even so, in 1973 the Casa da Imprensa (Press House) gave it the Press Prize for best record.¹³

According to the Aljube Museum, he returned to Portugal a year after the revolution.¹ His third LP, À Queima-Roupa (Point Blank), opens with “Liberdade” (Freedom), a song he had begun recording in Canada and which was one of the most listened-to in the early days after 25 April.⁵ In 1980 he sang at the Coliseu, at the 10th anniversary of the CGTP-IN trade union confederation, with José Afonso, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, Luísa Basto, Paulo de Carvalho and José Mário Branco.⁴