Radio, live transmission: how a song started the Portugal Revolution
It’s late in the evening of April 24th, 1974. Except for the odd radio playing, most of Portugal is fast asleep. It feels like it’s been sleeping for almost 48 years under the heel of an oppressive dictatorship. But it’s about to awaken like never before.
Thousands of miles away, in southern and western Africa, young Portuguese soldiers also turn in for the night. It’s been another exhausting, traumatising day in a war that’s been raging for 13 years against colonies trying to free themselves from the Portuguese Empire. A war these soldiers know they can’t win and have no interest in continuing.
At 10:55pm, in Lisbon, Portugal’s 1974 entry for the Eurovision Song Contest ‘E Depois Do Adeus’ (‘And After Goodbye’) is broadcast on local state radio. It’s a ridiculous piece, overproduced and comically melodramatic. The perfect sendoff for a vain, arrogant and treacherous regime that has kept its people down for generations.
Around the Portuguese capital, without the knowledge of the radio station or their own general staff, military officers who have heard the song playing are holding their positions, standing by for further instruction. They retune their radio dials to another station, Rádio Renascença, owned by the Catholic Church.
They’re listening out for an artist who isn’t broadcast on Rádio Renascença very often. José “Zeca” Afonso is a folk singer and underground activist widely celebrated across Portugal for his poetic depictions of the people’s suffering. He spent time in prison the previous year for his anti-regime activities, and many of his songs are censored by the state for their political undertones.
“Land of fraternity”
One song, though, has escaped censorship. ‘Grândola Vila Morena’ is an understated ode to a small town in the Alentejo region of Portugal, where Afonso spent much of his time in 1971 helping to organise local peasant groups.
Its lyrics don’t appear to be political. However, subtle hints at Afonso’s political leanings are present in the repeated lines “Land of fraternity!” and “The people are the ones who order things best”.
Radio host João Paulo Diniz has persuaded Rádio Renascença to play this song in their 12:00am – 1:00am slot for nighttime listeners. Little do they know that in the first hour of April 25th, 1974, most of their nighttime listeners were thousands of Portuguese soldiers belonging to the clandestine MFA (Armed Forces Movement).
At 12:20am, the unsuspecting Rádio Renascença host DJ plays the song he’s been instructed to include in his show. Afonso’s tenor voice rings out, “Grândola, vila morena”, accompanied by the sound of feet marching around the city. A spine-tingling version of the track re-recorded a capella in subsequent years replicates this sound.
Garrison after garrison of the Portuguese Army has abandoned its official posts. They surround and occupy telecommunication, transport, civil service and emergency service buildings without the slightest resistance. The state has collapsed. Portugal’s half-century of dictatorship is over.
In the hours that followed, military officers issued declarations on the fall of the dictatorship but urged Portuguese citizens to remain at home. They did the opposite, crowding city streets across the country in their millions.
In Lisbon, hundreds of thousands gather in the city centre to fraternise with soldiers. Women place red carnation flowers in their gun barrels and lapels, which is the popular name for the event internationally.
The musical legacy of the Carnation Revolution
Within 18 months, the Carnation Revolution led to all of Portugal’s former African colonies gaining independence. All occupying Portuguese Army forces have been withdrawn, often after regiments have mutinied against their senior officers.
And newly democratic Portugal is in the midst of a musical renaissance, with various singers from the revolutionary underground now performing and releasing their music openly without any censorship.
Sérgio Godinho’s funk-infused celebratory anthem ‘Liberdade’ prefigures Portuguese new wave with its wah-wah guitar and melodic drum fills reminiscent of Keith Moon. Its refrain is a list of demands for “peace, bread, housing, health, education”.
Meanwhile, Zeca Afonso is held up as a hero of the Revolution. Four years before his death, his 1983 live performance in the national Coliseum became one of the most-watched events in Portuguese television history.
‘Grândola Vila Morena’ is played annually around Portugal on April 25th, while the town of Grândola itself has become a site of special celebration for the birth of Portuguese democracy. No one will ever forget that this little-known folk song triggered Europe’s furthest-reaching popular revolution in the post-war period. Its impact has even been acknowledged by the Netflix series La casa de papel (Money Heist).
There can be no greater testament to the power of music. Or its vital role as the soundtrack to revolutions.