Zeca Afonso, one of the main voices of the Portuguese Carnation Revolution, could become the latest Portuguese legend to be laid to rest at the National Pantheon – the Lisbon church where the country’s most renowned personalities are buried.
The idea has been suggested by the Portuguese Society of Authors (SPA) in a bid to pay tribute to a man “who, like nobody else, knew how to sing in the name of the values of liberty, democracy, culture and citizenship”.
Says SPA: “Zeca Afonso is one of the most remarkable figures of Portugal’s cultural and artistic history and influenced many generations that came after him in artistic, political and moral ways.”
The plan would be to move Zeca Afonso’s remains into the National Pantheon at the same time that the country celebrated his 90th anniversary and the 45th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution.
Zeca Afonso became a national icon in the 1970s due to the role of his music in the resistance movement against the dictatorial regime of António Salazar.
He died in Setúbal on February 23, 1987 at the age of 57 after years of battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
michael.bruxo@algarveresident.com
