Grândola, Vila Morena
Grândola, Vila Morena ( German Grândola, suntanned City) is a famous Portuguese fight song that texted the singer-songwriter José Afonso anti-fascist and composed. It was the anthem of the Carnation Revolution of 1974.
José Afonso wrote the song in 1964 for the workers club Sociedade Musical Fraternidade Operária Grandolense, the " Musikverein workers ' fraternity' in Grândola. It is composed in the style of choral singing of southern Portuguese Alentejo, the melody is also used for other traditional texts in the Alentejo in use. These choral songs with cantor and polyphony have a tradition that until the late Middle Ages ranges ( Cantus gemellus ). Since Roman times, lived in the Alentejo region, many farm workers, who sang such songs also at work in the estates of the large landowners. The text refers to the solidarity of the farm workers and - in allusion to the principles of the French Revolution - its values equality ( igualdade ) and fraternity ( fraternidade ) without being specific in terms of a revolutionary intention. And yet submitted the hints for the former regime: Grândola is sung as a sunny city, where you meet at each corner to a friend and in every face for equality. Afonso used the image of the oak, " which no longer knows her age," in the shadow of the " Oath of Grândola " is made.
In the night between 24 and 25 April 1974, the Catholic radio station Rádio Renascença sent the song, the newspaper República had brought the night before for the initiated the hint, the music program of the night was particularly rewarding. To 0:25 clock the first verse was read:
" Grândola, suntanned city, home of the fraternity. The people are there, the most determined in Thee, O city. "
Subsequently, the song was played twice in full length, sung by José Afonso. The mention of the name José Afonso in the press was prohibited. For the initiated soldiers and civilians of the Movimento forcas Armadas (MFA ), it was the agreed signal for the start of the uprising against the dictatorship salazaristische. Even though there was not any radio listeners immediately clear on what exactly aimed this signal, the call character was clearly visible. When the troops of the MFA, the da Liberdade were headed around 5:30 clock by the Avenida their first targets in the capital, some of the most strategic ministries, including the Army Ministry lined, already thousands of Lissabonern, all advice given by the operations center of the MFA in spite of the streets. They ran alongside the army vehicles here, cheered the liberators, many of them even jumped on. The young team felt the overwhelming enthusiasm of the population not to be annoying, but as confirmation and accentuation. The train of the column from Santarém from Terreiro do Paço and the steep road up to the Carmo, on the edge of the Bairro Alto, resembled a triumphal procession. The first red carnations appeared - in April they have season - with them, the uniforms of the soldiers and their gun barrels were decorated. After the flowers, the revolution was called the " Carnation Revolution ". Barely 18 hours after the broadcast of the song Europe's oldest dictatorship was overthrown. This lasted for 48 years of persecution and exile, oppression and exploitation, censorship and torture to end.
On February 15, 2013 were disturbed in the Portuguese Parliament to protest against the austerity policies of the government and the troika by the singing of Grândola, vila morena a speech by the Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho. A few days later, the song was sung in Madrid on the Puerta del Sol. The Portuguese Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Miguel Relvas, was disturbed on February 19, 2013 by the protest song. Hundreds of thousands sang the song in protest against the austerity policies on the country-wide protests on March 2, 2013. Grândola, vila morena becoming the anthem of the protest movement against austerity.