Zeca Afonso

José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso dos Santos, also known as Zeca Afonso or Zeca (Aveiro, August 2, 1929 – Setúbal, February 23, 1987) was born in Aveiro, Portugal. Zeca is among the most influential folk and political musicians in Portuguese history, often criticizing the post-revolutionary changes. Years after his death, Zeca Afonso is still widely listened to, not only in Portugal, but also abroad.

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.

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. In 1936 he returned to Aveiro and in 1937 he travelled for the second time, this time to Mozambique

He returned to Portugal in 1938, there he finished the fourth grade. His uncle, a fierce fascist supporter, made him a member of the "Mocidade Portuguesa", a youth organization under the right-wing regime of the Estado Novo, Zeca would later consider those years among the worst in his life.

In 1956 he released his first record, Fados de Coimbra. In 1959 he started singing his trademark music style, colored with political and social connotations, in many popular groups around the country. This granted him a growing popularity among the working-class and the rural population.

In May 1964, José Afonso played in the Musical Society Workers' Brotherhood in Grândola, where he found the inspiration to compose the song Grândola, Vila Morena, which would be the signal for the start of the Carnation Revolution (the 25th of April) in 1974.

In 1969, he released the album Contos Velhos Rumos Novos which contains the popular song Canta Camarada which was adopted by the Portuguese Communist Party as an unofficial anthem, but in the end, it wasn't. He received an award for the best album, which he received again in 1970 and 1971.

In 1973 José Afonso continued his pilgrimage, singing everywhere. Many of his appearances were forcibly cancelled by the PIDE/DGS. In April he was arrested and spent 20 days in Caxias prison. By Christmas of this year, he published the album Venham Mais Cinco, recorded in Paris.

From 1973 to 1985 he released a lot of albums such as Enquanto Há Força, Orfeu, Fados de Coimbra e Outras Canções, Orfeu, Como se Fora seu Filho, Sassetti…etc. In 1985 he released his last album, Galinhas do Mato

Zeca Afonso died in Setúbal, victim of the sclerosis that had been diagnosed in 1982.