Culture and censorshipsingerpriest, barred from exercising his ministry in 1970music teacher
Born
17 May 1941, Vila Nova da Barquinha
A priest and singer. At the São Domingos vigil, as 1968 turned into 1969, he sang Sophia de Mello Breyner’s “Cantata da Paz” (Cantata of Peace). Barred from being a priest, from teaching and from singing in public, he left for France in 1971 and took part in the recording of “Cantigas do Maio” (Songs of May).
He was born in Vila Nova da Barquinha on 17 May 1941, studied at the seminaries of Santarém, Almada and Olivais and was ordained a priest in 1965. Between 1968 and 1970 he was a secondary school (liceu) teacher and curate of the parish of Barreiro; in December 1968 he met José Afonso.1
On the night of 31 December 1968, at the vigil for peace in the Church of São Domingos, he sang the “Cantata da Paz” (Cantata of Peace), which Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen had written for that night.23 In 1969 he appeared on Zip-Zip and recorded Cantilenas; the cantata came out in 1970 on the record Canções da Cidade Nova (Songs of the New City).13
He returned after 25 April and sang at sessions in support of popular struggles, the Agrarian Reform, cooperatives and workers’ and residents’ committees, and in the MFA’s cultural dynamisation campaigns.1 In May 1974, at the “free singing” show that the Emissora Nacional and RTP organised at the São Luís Theatre, “Cantar Não É Talvez Suficiente” (Singing Is Perhaps Not Enough), a poem by Manuel Alegre set to his music, was heard.7 In June 1975 RTP filmed him at the Coliseu, accompanying José Afonso at a LUAR rally in support of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).6 He later devoted himself to teaching music and to the José Afonso Association.1
From the archives
Francisco Fanhais’s testimony, recorded by the Aljube Museum on 15 January 2020. Going by the museum’s keywords, he talks about the Catholics and the Church, the PIDE, the colonial war, the LUAR, protest music (música de intervenção) and censorship.
Original page Licença padrão do YouTube — embed permitido pelo canal oficial do Museu do Aljube
Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade, on YouTube. The player only connects to that site when you press “Watch”.
In other archives
These can only be viewed on each archive’s own website.
A protest singer, persecuted by the censors and imprisoned by the PIDE/DGS in 1973. His “Grândola, Vila Morena” (Grândola, swarthy town), sung in chorus at the Coliseu in March 1974, was a month later the second signal of 25 April.
A singer of the Coimbra generation that made song a weapon against the Estado Novo (“New State”). His “Trova do Vento que Passa” (Ballad of the Passing Wind), with a poem by Manuel Alegre, became a student and anti-fascist anthem. He was at the Coliseu in March 1974 and at the airport to welcome the exiles.
A singer, composer and producer. Arrested by the PIDE in 1962, he deserted from the colonial war and spent eleven years in exile in France, where he produced José Afonso’s “Cantigas do Maio” (Songs of May). He returned on 30 April 1974 and was welcomed at the airport with “Grândola”.
A singer and songwriter from the Azores. She formed a duo with Carlos Alberto Moniz, wrote and sang “Trevo de Maio” (May Clover) and, in March 1974, was on the stage of the Coliseu singing “Grândola” with José Afonso at the 1st Portuguese Song Meeting (I Encontro da Canção Portuguesa).
An architect and a figure among the progressive Catholics, he took part in the peace vigil at São Domingos (1968–1969) and was one of the organisers of the Capela do Rato vigil (1972). Arrested by the DGS in 1970, after the Rato vigil and at the end of 1973, he only left Caxias with 25 April.
A poet. She lived in Graça from 1951 until her death, wrote the “Cantata da Paz” (Cantata of Peace) for the São Domingos vigil, helped found the committee for aid to political prisoners and was a deputy in the Constituent Assembly. “This is the dawn I was waiting for” (Esta é a madrugada que eu esperava) is hers.
