News | Colloquium on the song "Grândola, Vila Morena" in Paris

On February 13, following an invitation from La Contemporaine - Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine, at the University of Nanterre in Paris, INET-md researchers, Hugo Castro and Ricardo Andrade, accompanied by musician Francisco Fanhais, participated in a colloquium about the song “Grândola, Vila Morena”, by José Afonso.

In this colloquium, the researchers and the musician focused on various aspects related to the trajectory of this song, from the social and political contexts that led to its elaboration, the process of its recording for the phonogram “Cantigas do Maio” (published in 1971), the song's impact on the audiences, its choice as one of the radio passwords that triggered the 25th of April 1974, the multiple versions of the song by different performers and its uses and ressignifications over the last 50 years.

This initiative took place within the scope of the event "Mais c'est quoi la révolution des oeillets?" and is part of the research work being carried out for the FCT project "We must warn everyone": Music and Portuguese exile in France during the Estado Novo regime (1933-1974)".

Still within the scope of this colloquium, Hugo Castro was interviewed for the program Passagem de Nível on the French radio station Radio Alfa, presented by Artur Silva, in which he discussed the work that is being carried out at the Centro de Estudos e Documentação José Mário Branco - Música e Liberdade, as well as the initiatives of the Observatory of the Protest Song.

Also related to the research being developed, Ricardo Andrade was interviewed for the French television channel Histoire TV, for a program about the Portuguese Revolution, which will be broadcast in several European countries.