JS Portalegre kicks off the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April

50 years ago, after a failed coup, the way was opened and “ground was felt” in what was the First Meeting of Portuguese Song and which took place on March 29th. What would be a Casa Awards Gala of the Press ended up turning into a “noisy demonstration against the Estado Novo Regime”.

It is under this motto that the Socialist Youth of Portalegre is promoting this Thursday, March 28th, at 9:30 pm, at CAE Portalegre, a concert with free entry and open to the entire population.

For Mário Ceia, president of JS Portalegre, «the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April obliges a structure like ours, JS Portalegre, to celebrate the date in a special way. Democracies are at risk when the past is forgotten or told in a euphemized way. The 1st Portuguese Song Meeting is one of the most important events in the construction of our democracy, but unfortunately one of the most forgotten. We wanted to show that young Portalegrenses are alert, that they do not disregard the past and that the municipality will always count on us to defend the values ​​of April».

Beatriz Meira, one of the voices of Nova Casta, explains that «we are a group of friends who spent evenings around a table playing music and toasting life. We started by being challenged to small concerts for a younger audience where Zeca Afonso’s “vejam bem” was one of the first songs we played. This song, from a musical perspective, quickly became the one with which we identify most as a group.

Today, as Nova Casta, we take on the responsibility of singing the songs of April. We are not a band that only plays intervention songs, but we accepted the invitation from the Socialist Youth of Portalegre with the awareness of the importance of remembering the message of the Carnation Revolution».