Revolution songs
Foreigners usually talk about fado as our national song.
Well, there are different kinds of fado.
Fado de Lisboa (the Lisbon fado, the most famous among those who visit Portugal, usually quite sad), Fado do Ribatejo (the joyous fado, usually about horses, bulls and bullfights) and Fado de Coimbra (from Coimbra’s University students, played with a slightly different guitar and different in many other ways).
Well, some years ago there was a revolution in Coimbra, when a virtuoso named Artur Paredes started playing the traditional guitar from Coimbra in different ways, in a more complex form. This man was followed by a few other geniuses, like Carlos Paredes (his own son), António Portugal and António Brojo.
Still the songs were traditionally about the homesickness of the students, about their places of birth, their loved ones and all that (remember this was a time when going to the University sometimes meant spending months without seeing you family).
About the same age as the followers of Artur Paredes were a few other students, like Adriano Correia de Oliveira and Zeca Afonso, two of the most famous voices at Coimbra those days and still today two voices missed by all (sadly they are both gone now).
Coimbra was, and still is, famous for its students spirit.
Living under a dictatorship, Coimbra was a fulcral point for dissidents (as Universities usually are, after all smart people don’t like living under a yoke).
At first some poets started writing songs against the regime, with more or less explicit lyrics regarding the general state of affairs.
The political police wasn’t sleeping though, and the prosecutions started. Then came the days of cryptic lyrics, with coded messages inside some of the songs and with plenty of popular songs amidst the coded ones.
Finally came the nonsense songs. Some of which are really surrealistic. The last ones started when censorship had already flagged out most of the singers, writers and guitar players. The purpose of the nonsense lyrics was simply to get the censors and the political police busy trying to figure out what the hell the message was.
When the revolution finally arrived the signal that things were in motion was a song and the signal the primary targets were taken was yet another song, both broadcasted by a national radio.
To most of us these songs have a special meaning, they are the voices of those who stood up so that we can today be free (or nearly so).
Tags:Portugal
Well, there are different kinds of fado.
Fado de Lisboa (the Lisbon fado, the most famous among those who visit Portugal, usually quite sad), Fado do Ribatejo (the joyous fado, usually about horses, bulls and bullfights) and Fado de Coimbra (from Coimbra’s University students, played with a slightly different guitar and different in many other ways).
Well, some years ago there was a revolution in Coimbra, when a virtuoso named Artur Paredes started playing the traditional guitar from Coimbra in different ways, in a more complex form. This man was followed by a few other geniuses, like Carlos Paredes (his own son), António Portugal and António Brojo.
Still the songs were traditionally about the homesickness of the students, about their places of birth, their loved ones and all that (remember this was a time when going to the University sometimes meant spending months without seeing you family).
About the same age as the followers of Artur Paredes were a few other students, like Adriano Correia de Oliveira and Zeca Afonso, two of the most famous voices at Coimbra those days and still today two voices missed by all (sadly they are both gone now).
Coimbra was, and still is, famous for its students spirit.
Living under a dictatorship, Coimbra was a fulcral point for dissidents (as Universities usually are, after all smart people don’t like living under a yoke).
At first some poets started writing songs against the regime, with more or less explicit lyrics regarding the general state of affairs.
The political police wasn’t sleeping though, and the prosecutions started. Then came the days of cryptic lyrics, with coded messages inside some of the songs and with plenty of popular songs amidst the coded ones.
Finally came the nonsense songs. Some of which are really surrealistic. The last ones started when censorship had already flagged out most of the singers, writers and guitar players. The purpose of the nonsense lyrics was simply to get the censors and the political police busy trying to figure out what the hell the message was.
When the revolution finally arrived the signal that things were in motion was a song and the signal the primary targets were taken was yet another song, both broadcasted by a national radio.
To most of us these songs have a special meaning, they are the voices of those who stood up so that we can today be free (or nearly so).
Tags:Portugal
posted by DCveR at 7:03 PM
3 Comments:
Hahaaaa I love this: "The purpose of the nonsense lyrics was simply to get the censors and the political police busy trying to figure out what the hell the message was."
I'd go to town, having fun, writing nonsense lyrics. With hidden meanings.
I agree with Guyana Gyal re the nonsensical lyrics. How stressful and annoying it must have been for the police. Hilarious!
isis: No tests here. If you folks like the stories great, if you don't... oh, well, no big deal. Tests would be like teaching again and I really didn't enjoy it that much.
GG and NML: Some of the songs and even some of the stunts and pranks the students use to pull back in those days seem rather funny today, but back then it could easily mean prison and torture should the political police catch you.
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