I have no time, love... The memory of Catarina Eufémia’s assassination and the Agrarian Reform in the sound recordings of António Modesto Navarro
Talk with ANTÓNIO MODESTO NAVARRO (writer) and PAULO LIMA (anthropologist)
In early 1976, politician and writer António Modesto Navarro (Vila Flor, 1942) arrived in the Alentejo to record testimonies of the ongoing revolution. He had been documenting living conditions and the revolution in the regions of Trás-os-Montes, Beira Alta and Lisbon since 1969. For two months, Navarro conducted extensive interviews in around 30 locations in the districts of Portalegre, Évora and Beja.
Popular poetry, improvisation and 'cante alentejano' are included in testimonies of rare beauty and poignancy, at a unique historical moment: three months after 25 November 1975, when the Constituent Assembly approved the new Portuguese Constitution and Portugal voted to elect its first democratic government. For the first time in Portugal's history, everyone was voting.
The voices of Ana Bragança, singing political songs in Benavila, the printed "décimas" of José Virgínia and António Maria Coelho, recorded in Aldeia dos Fernandes and Corte Vicente Anes, or the "modas" sung on tractors by peasants from Pias on their way to the May 1st celebration in Beja, as well as testimonies collected in Montemor-o-Novo, Santiago de Valongo, Montoito, Aljustrel and Baleizão, show how the peasant world of southern Portugal felt and experienced the assassination of Catarina Eufémia (1929-1954), the April Revolution of 1974 and the beginning of the "Agrarian Reform War" in April 1976 - times of insurrection and peasant utopia.
Voices recorded almost half a century ago of men and women who took the future into their own hands.
The over 100 hours of sound recordings made made by António Modesto Navarro during this revolutionary period represent a unique testimony and sound heritage in the history of Portugal.
Some of these recordings, made with the support of CENDREV, have been edited into a book, and a complete edition is expected to be published in 2024 and 2025, under the title As vozes do gravador: reportagens políticas em Trás-os-Montes, Beira Alta e Alentejo (1973-1976).
ANTÓNIO MODESTO NAVARRO
Writer and publicist. He was senior technician at the Ministry of Culture and founder of the Portuguese Writers Association. He is the author of over five dozen books of fiction, poetry, and reporting, with a particular focus on Portuguese regions distant from the major centers of decision-making.
PAULO LIMA
Anthropologist; Member of the Executive Commission of the Fado Candidacy for UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage; Coordinator of the candidacies of Cante Alentejano, Chocalho Manufacturing, and Morna (Cape Verde) for UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. IMATERIAL Award 2023.