Zeca Afonso
| Zeca Afonso | |
|---|---|
José Afonso
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso dos Santos |
| Also known as | Zeca Afonso |
| Born | August 2, 1929 |
| Origin | Aveiro, Portugal |
| Died | February 23, 1987 (aged 57) |
| Genres | Fado |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Website | http://www.aja.pt// |
José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso dos Santos, known as José Afonso, Zeca Afonso (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈzɛkɐ aˈfõsu]) or just Zeca (2 August 1929 – 23 February 1987), was born in Aveiro, Portugal, the son of José Nepomuceno Afonso, a judge, and Maria das Dores. Zeca is among the most influential folk and political musicians in Portuguese history. He became an icon among Portuguese left-wing activists due to the role of his music in the resistance against the dictatorial regime of Oliveira Salazar, resistance that triumphed in 1974 with the pro-democratic leftist military coup of the Carnation Revolution. His song "Grândola, Vila Morena" is closely associated with the revolution, since it was chosen to be the password transmitted by radio for the beginning of the movement that toppled the dictatorship. In the ensuing revolutionary process, Zeca was a very active musician and continued composing political and folk songs, often criticizing the post-revolutionary changes. Years after his death, Zeca Afonso is still widely listened to, not only in Portugal, but also abroad.
José Afonso was born in Aveiro on 2 August 1929, at 10:30 am.
In 1930, his parents travelled to Angola, a Portuguese colony at the time, where his father had been placed as a judge in the city of Silva Porto (present-day Kuito). José Afonso stayed at Aveiro, in a house near the "Fonte das Cinco Bicas", due to some health problems with his aunt Gigé and his uncle Xico, who called himself "republican and anticlerical". In 1933 Zeca travelled to Angola at his mother's request. On the ship Zeca met a missionary who became his companion during the voyage. José Afonso stayed for three years in Angola, where he began his primary education.
In 1936, he returned to Aveiro and in 1937 he travelled for the second time, this time to Mozambique, another Portuguese overseas territory in East Africa, where his parents were then living, with his brother and sister, João and Mariazinha.
...
Wikipedia