subversive. Later, the book Cantares de José Afonso (Songs of José Afonso) was published. The Portuguese Communist Party leadership invited him to become a party member but Afonso refused. He signed a contract with the record label Orfeu, which would record 70% of his works. 1968–1974: Prolific period and anti-regime activities In 1968, after being dismissed from the government teaching job, Afonso became a private tutor and started singing more regularly with popular groups from the south bank of the Tagus river, a region which had a stronger influence of the Portuguese Communist Party. Around Christmas, Afonso released the album Cantares do Andarilho ("Songs of the Wanderer"), in collaboration with Rui Pato, the first album recorded for the label Orfeu. Afonso had a special contract with Orfeu, for he was paid 15,000 escudos per month, a princely sum at the time, under the condition that he recorded an album per year. In 1969, with the replacement of hardliner António de Oliveira Salazar by the more moderate Marcelo Caetano as head of the Estado Novo regime, the nation got a slight taste of democracy, such as permission to rebuild a democratic Labour Union movement. José Afonso joined the movement and supported it by all the means he could while also taking part in the second wave of student rebellion against the regime in the university town of Coimbra. That year, his album Contos Velhos Rumos Novos ("Old Tales New Courses") was released. For the first time an instrument other than the guitar was used on a José Afonso album. For this album he was awarded the prize for best album of the year by Casa da Imprensa, a distinction he would repeat in 1970 and 1971. His fourth and last son, Pedro, was also born in 1969. In 1970, Afonso released the album Traz Outro Amigo Também ("Bring Another Friend as Well"), which was recorded in London at the Pye Studios. It was the first album without frequent colaborator Rui Pato, who had been forbidden to travel by the Portugal's secret police. On 21 March, Casa da Imprensa (representing the Portuguese press) gave Afonso an honorary award for his "high quality work as a singer and composer and for his decisive influence upon Portuguese popular music". He participated in an international festival in Cuba. At the end of 1971, the album Cantigas do Maio ("Songs of May") was released. The album