After fifty years, José Afonso’s song, Grândola Villa Morena, continues to arouse deep emotions inside and outside Portugal’s borders. The great beauty of the composition, the values conveyed by its lyrics of equality, fraternity, freedom and friendship, universal values, and the symbolic charge given by the fact that it was the signal for the beginning of a peaceful revolution, supported by a citizenry that understood that early morning of April 25 that it was called to decide the future of the country, give it an unprecedented historical weight.
The army’s weapons exchanged the smoke of bullets for carnations and, after forty years
of dictatorship and the survival of an atrocious colonialist regime, the last one that survived in the world, and which ended the lives of thousands of people, Grândola Villa Morena marked the beginning of a journey for which there was no turning back: the democratization, not only of Portugal, but of the Iberian Peninsula. Spain, in the immediate agony of its dictator, watched with emotion the events of its immediate neighbor.
How the people recognized that sound signal, whether it was word of mouth or the fact
that a Catholic radio played a song banned by the dictatorship; who put the first carnation
on the rifle or how it is possible that hardly a shot was fired in several days of revolution
can only be due to the will of an entire people, including a committed army, full of humanity, despite being depleted and frustrated by the colonial wars.
A complicated path began then, not without difficulties, controversies and fears, but
today, fifty years later, we can continue to celebrate those values. As the song says, it is
the people who order the most, and that is what the Portuguese have been doing since that wonderful day in 1974. They were fortunate that the army understood their mandate. The Carnation Revolution was much more than a romantic revolution, it was the will of a people and, above all, a demonstration of the army’s lack of ambition for power. They only sought, together with the citizens, peace and democracy.
Una Lengua Infinta wants to echo the values of the revolution and with this version pay homage to the Portuguese people.wAn Infinite Language is a musical project without borders that aims to help musicians bridge the huge gap between the value of their talent and the possibility of receiving adequate remuneration.
This takes place through the language that connects us all: music. Musicians from all
over the world perform the songs and instrumental pieces they have composed
themselves. The principles of Una Lengua Infinita are unwavering: a project without borders, humanity, authenticity through acoustic instruments, harmony and lots of love.
You can learn more about the project through social networks and on its website:
www.unalenguainfinita.com
