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Angolanidade (English: Angolanness or Angolanity) is the national identity of Angola. [1] It can also be described as Angolan cultural patriotism. [2] Much of what is today considered angolanidade was created by Angolan intellectuals as a conscious effort to highlight an idealized vision for what it means to be Angolan. [3]
Angolanidade began to develop in the 1940s and '50s, when black Angolans started to differentiate themselves from white settlers by embracing and reclaiming aspects of traditional African culture. Angolanidade adopted some aspects of négritude , a cultural ideology developed by francophone African intellectuals that emphasized the distinctness of African cultural output. [2] The ideas espoused by the négritude movement were adapted to Angolan culture by Angolan intellectuals, such as poet Viriato da Cruz. Da Cruz codified the concept of angolanidade in 1948 as a literary movement with the slogan "Let's Discover Angola!," supported by publication of the journal "A Mensagem." [4] Writers within the movement, including Agostinho Neto, later to be Angola's first president, identified and highlighted the culture of Angolan musseques, or shanty towns, as a direct counterpoint to the colonial government's perspective that such places were squalid and full of crime. [4] Though the literary movement had largely declined by the 1960s, its cultural influence remained. [4]
By the time of the Angolan War of Independence, from 1961 to 1974, embracing angolanidade and declaring cultural autonomy became a way of pushing back against the oppression of colonialism. [2]
Writing, dance, music, and fashion are major aspects of how angolanidade is created, perpetuated, and expressed.
Especially in the capital of Luanda, which was historically associated with white colonial settlers, black Angolans were encouraged to wear traditional dress as a form of cultural distinction and to build a sense of nationalism among the people. Opting to wear traditional clothing also indicated a refusal to assimilate and therefore lose one's culture in the face of colonialism.
Music and dance are central to the expression of angolanidade. Historian Marissa Moorman argues that it is "in and through popular urban music, produced overwhelmingly in Luanda's musseques, that Angolan men and women forged the nation." [5] Angolan music began to be explicitly political in the 1950s, drawing from and supporting the budding Angolan liberation movements that were starting to take root. [2] A number of members of Angolan bands were members of the MPLA, and their political experiences informed their music, which in turn influenced the politics of their audiences. [2] In choosing to use local instruments and national languages - primarily Kimbundu and Umbundu - in their music, Angolan musicians rejected assimilation and reinforced the concept of angolanidade. [2]
The music of Angola has been shaped both by wider musical trends and by the political history of the country. while Angolan music has also influenced the music of the other Lusophone countries and Latin American countries. In turn, the music of Angola was instrumental in creating and reinforcing "angolanidade", the Angolan national identity. The capital and largest city of Angola — Luanda — is home to a diverse group of styles including kazukuta, semba, kizomba and kuduro. Just off the coast of Luanda is Ilha do Cabo, home to an accordion and harmonica-based style of music called rebita.
The Wretched of the Earth is a 1961 book by the philosopher Frantz Fanon, in which the author provides a psychoanalysis of the dehumanizing effects of colonization upon the individual and the nation, and discusses the broader social, cultural, and political implications of establishing a social movement for the decolonisation of a person and of a people. The French-language title derives from the opening lyrics of "The Internationale", which is reflected in the English title as well.
Négritude is a framework of critique and literary theory, mainly developed by francophone intellectuals, writers, and politicians in the African diaspora during the 1930s, aimed at raising and cultivating "black consciousness" across Africa and its diaspora. Négritude gathers writers such as sisters Paulette and Jeanne Nardal, Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, Abdoulaye Sadji, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Léon Damas of French Guiana. Négritude intellectuals disavowed colonialism, racism and Eurocentrism. They promoted African culture within a framework of persistent Franco-African ties. The intellectuals employed Marxist political philosophy, in the black radical tradition. The writers drew heavily on a surrealist literary style, and some say they were also influenced somewhat by the Surrealist stylistics, and in their work often explored the experience of diasporic being, asserting one's self and identity, and ideas of home, home-going and belonging.
Kuduro is a type of music and dance from Angola. It is characterized as uptempo, energetic, and danceable. Kuduro was developed in Luanda, Angola, in the late 1980s. Producers sampled traditional carnival music like soca and zouk béton from the Caribbean to Angola, techno and accordion playing from Europe and laid this around a fast four-to-the-floor beat.
Maria de Lourdes Pereira dos Santos Van-Dúnem was an Angolan singer. Usually called Lourdes Van-Dúnem, she was born in Luanda, and rose to stardom in the 1960s with the group Ngola Ritmos. She recorded her first album, Monami, with this group. She toured several times in Portugal, Algeria, and Brazil, in addition to performances in Angola. After her first album, most of her career was spent with the group Jovens do Prenda.
Portuguese is the only official language of Angola, but 46 other languages are spoken in the country, mostly Bantu languages.
Ngola Ritmos was a musical group created in 1947 in the home of Manuel dos Passos by a group of young men called Domingos Van-Dúnem, Mário da Silva Araújo, Francisco Machado, Liceu Vieira Dias and Nino Ndongo who formerly comprised a group named "Os Sambas". They sang in kimbundu with the purpose to spread and divulge cultural and political awareness to the peoples of Luanda during the Portuguese Empire era. They felt a need to create something new. To spread and divulge folkloric themes that were fading away due to colonialism so Ngola Ritmos, still a small group, appeared with Liceu Vieira Días as the main guitar player and the rest playing with drums and acacia sticks as rattles.
Viriato Clemente da Cruz was an Angolan poet and politician, who was born in Kikuvo, Porto Amboim, Portuguese Angola, and died in Beijing, People's Republic of China. He is considered one of the most important Angolan poets of his time. He wrote poems in Portuguese, some of which include phrases in the Angolan Bantu language of Kimbundu. He took part in the political struggle to free Angola from Portuguese rule.
Portuguese Angolans are citizens of Angola who are either descended from Portuguese people or Portuguese emigrants permanently living in Angola. The number of Portuguese Angolans precipitously dropped during and immediately after the Angolan War of Independence, but several hundreds of thousands have either returned or emigrated to live in Angola. As of 2022, they make up approximately 0.6% of Angola's population. One million Angolans are mixed African/Portuguese descent.
Angola in the 1950s transitioned from colonial to provincial status. Angola had the status of a Portuguese colony from 1655 until the Assembly of the Republic passed a law on June 11, 1951, giving all Portuguese colonies provincial status, effective on October 20, 1951. Separatist political organizations advocating Angolan independence formed in the 1950s despite strong resistance from the Portuguese government, leading to the Angolan War of Independence (1961–1975).
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Luanda, Angola.
Rebita is a traditional music and dance from Angola. It is a genre of music and dance in which a circle of couples, led by a coordinator in the middle, dance in a traditional movement called Massemba.
Deolinda Rodrigues Francisco de Almeida was an Angolan nationalist militant, writer, and translator who also taught, wrote poetry, and worked as a radio host.
The Organization of Angolan Women is a political organisation in Angola, which was founded in 1962 to target women to support the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola. It was co-founded by Deolinda Rodrigues Francisco de Almeida.
The architecture of Angola spans three distinct historical periods: precolonial, colonial and independent. The impact of Portuguese colonial control over Angola has left a large architectural legacy in the country. However, present-day Angola is increasingly influenced by broader global trends in architecture, especially as a result of the country's oil-boom in the early 21st Century.
The Kalunga Project was a project initiated by the Angolan government to reconnect with those of the diaspora within Brazil. This tour was not only political but also a social commentary connecting Brazil and Angola through music as well as through pop-culture. Brazilian performers were invited to tour Angola, performing as an act of solidarity to the communist party during the Angolan Civil War. The tour took place in the cities Luanda, Lobito, and Benguela. All of the more than 60 performers and artists supported the MPLA in their fight for independence; many singing about anti-colonial struggles through Semba.
António Ole is a multi-medium Angolan artist, among the best known in the country. He represented Angola at the 2017 Venice Biennale.
David Gabriel José Ferreira was an Angolan musician, composer and activist. He began his singing career while Angola was still under the rule of the Portuguese Empire and his music often expressed left-wing and anti-colonialist sentiments. David Zé, along with Artur Nunes, Urbano de Castro and others, was a part of a group of musicians called the FAPLA-Povo Alliance who had the role to spread social and political awareness to Angolan citizens to start a laborist movement to reform Angola after its revolution. He was given the official position of Director of Music in the Culture Ministry in the incoming MPLA regime.
Artur Nunes was an Angolan musician, composer, and activist. In his time, Nunes was one of the most influential voices and composers in the pre-independence days of revolutionary Angola. Nunes, along with David Zé, Urbano de Castro and many others, was a part of a group of musicians called the FAPLA-Povo Alliance who had the role to spread and divulge awareness to Angolan citizens helping a movement of revolution. He was nicknamed "O Espiritual" due to his expertise in manifesting his feelings in a rather contagious way as if he could communicate with souls.
Carlos de Aniceto "Liceu" Vieira Dias was an Angolan musician and anti-colonial activist, considered to be the father of Angolan popular music. A member of the Angolan musical group Ngola Ritmos, he was considered an exemplary guitarist and singer. Active in the struggle for an independent Angola, he was one of the founding members of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).