How long ago was the Age Of Discovery? Six centuries ago, in 1418, the story of Portugal began under the leadership of Infante Dom Henrique, who through the captains João Gonçalves Zarco, Tristão Vaz Teixeira and Gonçalo Velho Cabral came on shore (either by necessity or choice) to the then unknown islands of Madeira and Azores, transforming Lisboa into this Iberian gateway toward a different world.
In one small landfall to islands just a bit west of this small, largely, ocean-facing kingdom, history was set in motion putting it on the trajectory to become what would be this behemoth, circumnavigating empire. Venturing from the Old World to Africa and the New World, journeying to the Orient and beyond, navigators like Magellan, Vasco De Gama, Marco Polo and Columbus kept exploring and conquering a world they didn’t know, imposing as much their influence on new lands as they would unknowingly bring back foreign culture, serving as the largest kind of bounty sift through for those at home.
As their expanse vacillated in contractions, all those touch points — Brazil, Mozambique, Macau, and many more — slowly, but surely, functioned as sculptor themselves, signaling that the moldable creation was in fact the one who laid down that first hand, serving as a reminder that not everything is entirely theirs to set in the end.
My mix for LYL Radio explores these global influences, as heard in the music of Zeca Afonso, Carlos Paredes, and José Medeiros, influential musical explorers that tried to right the wrongs of the past by absorbing and comprehending the true wealth of inspiration they can give their creativity.
In their music (as in the music of others from the generation conceiving and birthed after the Carnation Revolution) we get to hear the not-so-hidden integration of rhythms from Angola, the melodies of Macau, and the furthering innovation of acceptance to that almighty way a fourth world has been here for far longer than we think. Here’s to a just, new, beginning…
Galinhas Do Mato (Portuguese Fourth World Special I)
Tardes De Casablanca – Janita Salomé
Moda Do Entrudo – José Afonso
Ilha – Lua Extravagante
Lembra-me Um Sonho Lindo – Fausto
Verde Andar (Dedicated To Minho) – Júlio Pereira
Camões E A Tença – José Mário Branco
Lisboa Que Amanhece – Sérgio Godinho
Caminho De Yaman – Rão Kyao
Cruzeiro – Luís Alberto Bettencourt
Alegres camponeses (Merry Peasants) – António Emiliano
Atlântico – José Medeiros, Suzana Coelho
Canção de Pedro F. – Paulo Andrade
Variações Sob Uma Dança Popular – Carlos Paredes
CMT: Plan – Carlos Maria Trindade & Nuno Canavarro