A Real Revolution - 1974

 

George writes

                                           Carnations

I got in touch with CC a while ago, and cheekily suggested a final piece for his Revolution series. At the time of writing I don’t know if it will actually be the last in the series, we shall see (as CC is overly fond of saying). Instead of getting songs with “revolution” in the title, you’re going to get two songs that actually signalled the start of a real-life revolution.

The series got me thinking about the country we (Jo and I that is) call home, and its 1974 revolution, when it cast off the darkness of Salazar and the Estado Novo regime. I have only just found out how significant the Eurovision Song Contest of 1974 was, in particular a song that garnished the fewest votes in that contest, Paulo de Carvalho’s entry “e depois do adeus”. THIS is the song that signified the start of the revolution, broadcast at 10.55pm on April 24, it was the alert for soldiers to get ready for the coup. Why this song? It was well-known in the country, and there had to be a way of communicating to all involved when to get ready, so what better way than via the radio, of an innocuous but famous song.

 

(José Calvário, the name you see on that clip, wrote the song)

The actual signal to move was given by the second song, “Grândola, vila morena” by Zeca Afonso. Why not just get someone to broadcast “Gràndola” to start the revolution? Because Zeca was banned from the radio, so the act of airing one of his songs would have alerted the authorities of Estado Novo that Big Trouble Was Afoot! So, at 12.55 in the morning of April 25, 1974, this song went out:

(This starts quietly)

“Grândola” is the song most associated with the 1974 revolution, its lyric of equality and friendship in the dusty Alentejano town of Grândola probably has more meaning for the revolution than the sad end-of-a-relationship ballad  “e depois”. 

There’s some footage of the revolution and its immediate aftermath on Youtube, where you can see some of the citizens of Lisbon mingling with the soldiers around the Largo de Carmo where President Caetano was holed up (in the headquarters of the GNR). The square has changed very little over the years, and you can sit there enjoying a glass of white wine from the kiosk at a very very reasonable price.

Zeca Alfonso and Paulo de Carvalho both have entries in wiki, both worthy of a read and musical follow-ups.

CC writes:

Thanks George - some history and culture at this place for a change. 

Rather than leave this post to the end of the series (which I suspect is drawing ever closer) I thought that we could earnestly discuss it over a beer or two tonight rather than the usual nonsense we normally do!

We could learn something from the Portuguese

 I suspect that even Ernie would struggle to source some reggae from Portugal although he could well prove me wrong. In the meantime here is the next of his Reggae Revolutionaries

Little Harry - Revolution