Grândola, Vila Morena

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The monument of azulejos with the musical notes of the song Grândola, Vila Morena, on the 25th anniversary of April 25th, the day of the Carnation Revolution

Grândola, Vila Morena (German Grândola, tanned city ) is a famous Portuguese battle song that the anti-fascist songwriter José Afonso wrote and composed. It became the anthem of the Carnation Revolution of 1974 .

José Afonso wrote the song in 1964 for the workers 'association Sociedade Musical Fraternidade Operária Grandolense , the "Workers' Brotherhood Music Association" in Grândola . It is composed in the style of the Cante Alentejano , the alternating song of the southern Portuguese Alentejo ; the melody is also used for other traditional texts in the Alentejo. These choir chants with cantor and polyphony (included in the list of intangible world cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2014) are deeply rooted in the folk culture of this rural area and have a tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages (cantus gemellus) . Since Roman times, many farm workers lived in the Alentejo region , who sang such songs while working in the latifundia of the large landowners . The text refers to the solidarity of the farm workers and - alluding to the principles of the French Revolution - their values ​​of equality (igualdade) and brotherhood (fraternidade), without becoming more concrete with regard to a revolutionary intention. And yet the hints were enough for the regime of that time: Grândola is celebrated as a sunny city in which one meets a friend on every corner and equality in every face. Afonso uses the image of the holm oak "which no longer knows its age", in whose shadow the "Oath of Grândola" is taken.

Typical architecture of the Alentejo villages
Typical landscape in the Alentejo, holm oak in the cornfield

On the night of April 24th to 25th, 1974, the Catholic radio station Rádio Renascença broadcast the song. The evening before, the newspaper República had already brought a little hint for those in the know that the music program of the night was particularly worthwhile. At 12:25 a.m. the first stanza was read:

“Grândola, suntanned city, home of brotherhood. It is the people who determine the most in you, O city. "

- Zeca Afonso

The song was then played twice in full length, sung by José Afonso. Even mentioning the name José Afonso in the press was forbidden. For the initiated soldiers and civilians of the Movimento das Forças Armadas (MFA) it was the agreed sign for the beginning of the uprising against the Salazarist dictatorship . Even if it was not immediately clear to every radio listener what exactly this signal was aiming at, its calling character was clearly recognizable. By the time the MFA troops, heading for their first destinations in the capital Lisbon through Avenida da Liberdade at around 5:30 a.m. , reached some of the strategically most important ministries, including the Ministry of the Army, thousands of Lisbon residents were lined up with all the advice from the MFA's operations center despite the streets. They ran alongside the army vehicles, cheered the liberators, and many even jumped up. The young troop did not find the overflowing enthusiasm of the population disturbing, but rather confirmation and encouragement. The procession of the column from Santarém from Terreiro do Paço and the steep streets up to Carmo , on the edge of Bairro Alto , was like a triumphal procession . The first red carnations appeared - in April they are in season -; they were used to decorate the soldiers' uniforms and their gun barrels . After the flowers, the revolution was named "Carnation Revolution". Almost 18 hours after the song was broadcast, the dictatorship fell.

On February 15, 2013, the singing of Grândola, vila morena disrupted a speech by the Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho in the Portuguese Parliament to demonstrate against the austerity policies of the government and the Troika . A few days later, the song was sung in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square . The Portuguese Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Miguel Relvas , was disturbed by the protest song on February 19, 2013. Hundreds of thousands sang the song in protest against austerity at the nationwide protests on March 2, 2013. Grândola, vila morena became the anthem of the protest movement against austerity .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cante alentejano recognized as a UNESCO cultural heritage of mankind ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , December 2, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / kommunisten-online.de
  2. ↑ Grândola Vila Morena interrompe Passos e Relvas. Retrieved November 11, 2014 (Portuguese, video also includes later Miguel Relvas disorder).
  3. ↑ Grândola Vila Morena suena el # 16F en Sol, Madrid. Retrieved November 11, 2014 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ Miguel Relvas interrompido por «Grândola Vila Morena». Retrieved November 11, 2014 (Portuguese).
  5. ↑ Manifestação Lisboa canta Grândola Vila Morena contra a Troika eo governo de Pedro Passos Coelho. Retrieved November 11, 2014 (Portuguese, including lyrics in video description).
  6. ↑ Jochen Faget: Sonorous uprising. Deutschlandfunk, February 26, 2013, accessed on November 12, 2014 (text only; audio version no longer available). Thomas Fischer: masses with music against the troika. NZZ , March 4, 2013, accessed on November 11, 2014 .

Web links