Zeca Afonso - Cantigas Do Maio (1971)

Cantigas Do Maio is the Fifth Album by the Portuguese Protest Singer Zeca Afonso.
Zeca Afonso continued to Teach History in Schools while having his Musical career on the side. His connections to the Communist Party and to an Leftist Guerilla called LUAR (they mostly robbed banks to fund Revolutionary Actions), ended up getting him fired and banned from the Education System (many students still recall him telling them that they were going to learn the History of the People, and not of the Rulers). Soon after, Zeca is arrested by the Police, and after some months in Prison, is Exiled to Paris, where many other Portuguese Artists and Revolutionaries had stationed, waiting for the best moment to return to Portugal. It is there, in 1971 that together with José Mário Branco and many other Musicians he recorded what was to be considered his Best Album, with some of his most famous Songs, some of them becoming Revolutionary Anthems ("Grândola Vila Morena", was the code used by the Armed Forces Movement to start what would become the Carnation Revolution, and it is to this day one of the most famous Songs in Portugal, where almost everyone knows how to sing along to it). Zeca would return to Portugal and dedicate himself to Music, spending his time moving from town to town singing the Revolution.
Best Tracks - "Senhor Arcanjo", "Cantigas Do Maio", "Milho Verde", "Cantar Alentejano", "Grândola Vila Morena", "Maio Maduro Maio", "Mulher Da Erva", "Ronda Das Mafarricas" and "Coro Da Primavera" (All the Songs on the Album, they are all especial and beautiful, both Musically and Lyrically). The uniqueness of Zeca's Voice really brings it all together. The beauty of this Songs, a combinations of the Traditional Portuguese Sounds and Fado, and the desire for liberation, of a man whose biggest desire was to be free, and was denied such a pleasure make the perfect combination for a  seminal Record.

Zeca Afonso (Cantigas Do Maio Personnel):
- Christian Padovani - Bass.
- Jacques Granier - Flute.
- Carlos Correia - Guitar, Vocals.
- Michel Delaporte - Percussion, Bongos, Congas, Tambora.

- Tony Branis - Trumpet.
- José Mário Branco - Vocals, Accordion, Organ, Piano.
- Francisco Fanhais - Vocals, Bagpipes, Jew's Harp.

Download in comments.