José Afonso (Zeca Afonso)

He was born in Aveiro on 2 August 1929 and studied in Coimbra, where he made his name as a singer of the Coimbra song (canção coimbrã).² He became a reference point in Portuguese music in the time of the resistance to the Estado Novo (“New State”).¹⁰ He was a teacher and, when he came back from Mozambique in 1967, he was expelled from state teaching; from then on he became a symbol of the democratic resistance.² His name was banned in the newspapers, which, to get round the censors, wrote it backwards: “Esoj Osnofa”.³

In April 1973, in the wave of repression that followed the Congress of the Democratic Opposition, he was arrested by the PIDE/DGS.⁶ He was held in Caxias Fort until May.²

“Grândola, Vila Morena” (Grândola, swarthy town) was born of a performance at the Sociedade Musical Fraternidade Operária Grandolense (Grândola Workers’ Fraternity Musical Society), in 1964, and came out on the record Cantigas do Maio (Songs of May), in 1971.³ At the 1st Portuguese Song Meeting (I Encontro da Canção Portuguesa), at the Coliseu dos Recreios, in March 1974, José Afonso sang it and the audience that filled the hall joined in, in chorus.¹⁷

As the signal for the uprising, the MFA wanted to use “Venham Mais Cinco” (Let five more come), but the song was banned by Rádio Renascença’s internal censorship, and “Grândola” was chosen.⁸ At 00:20 on 25 April it was played on the programme Limite, on Rádio Renascença: it was the second signal, the one that confirmed the start of the operations.⁹

During the revolutionary process he drew close to the LUAR, without joining it, and travelled the country singing.¹⁰ In 1983, already ill, he gave his last concerts, at the Coliseus of Lisbon and Porto. He died in Setúbal on 23 February 1987.²