A Portuguesa

Olá my dear friends,

For some time I have been wanting to share with you our national anthem, A Portuguesa (The Portuguese [song]) and I have found a video that not only have the melody, but also the lyrics and even subtitles, which save me some hard work. Great!

But first let’s talk a little about its history. A Portuguesa was composed by Alfredo Keil and written by Henrique Lopes de Mendonça in 1890 as a song of patriotic nature in response to the British ultimatum to Portugal concerning the “Pink Map”, a document representing Portugal's claim of sovereignty of the land between Angola and Mozambique, which is currently Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.  Portugal conceded that ultimatum, causing serious damage to the prestige of the Portuguese monarchy, and subsequent encouragement of Republicanism.

A Portuguesa was later adopted as the national anthem of the newborn Portuguese Republic in 1911, replacing O Hino da Carta (The Charter Anthem), the anthem of the deposed constitutional monarchy.

Now I leave you with the “real thing”, our national anthem, A Portuguesa.

From Portugal,

with love