José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso dos Santos (2 August 1929 – 23 February 1987), known professionally as José Afonso and also popularly known as Zeca Afonso or simply Zeca, was a Portuguese singer-songwriter. One of the most influential folk and protest musicians in the history of Portugal, he became an icon in Portugal due to the role of his music in the resistance against the dictatorial Estado Novo regime. Afonso's song "Grândola, Vila Morena" was used as a radio-broadcast signal by the Portuguese Armed Forces during their military coup operation in the morning of 25 April 1974, which led to the Carnation Revolution and the transition to democracy in Portugal. Subsequently, Afonso, who favored communism, and "Grândola, Vila Morena" became symbols of the revolution and anti-fascism, as well as of both the Portuguese labor movement and political left. Biography 1929–1940: Early life José Afonso was born in Aveiro on 2 August 1929. His parents were José Nepomuceno Afonso dos Santos, a magistrate, and Maria das Dores Dantas Cerqueira, a primary school teacher. In 1930, his parents travelled to Angola, a Portuguese colony at the time, where his father had been placed as a judge in the city of Silva Porto (present-day Cuíto). For health reasons, Afonso stayed in Aveiro, in a house near the Fonte das Cinco Bicas, with his aunt Gigé and his uncle Xico, a "republican and anticlerical" man. In 1933 Afonso travelled to Angola at his mother's request. On the ship he met a missionary who became his companion during the voyage. Afonso stayed for three years in Angola, where he began his primary education. In 1936, he returned to Aveiro. In 1937 he went to live abroad for the second time, this time to Mozambique, another Portuguese colony in Africa, where his parents were then living with his siblings João and Mariazinha. He returned to Portugal in 1938, this time to the house of his uncle Filomeno, mayor of the town of Belmonte. There he finished the fourth grade. His uncle, a fierce fascist supporter, made him a join the "Mocidade Portuguesa", a paramilitary style political indoctrination youth organization conceived by the right-wing regime of Salazar and the Estado Novo, to provide regime aligned cadres and future leaders. 1940–1956: The Coimbra years He went to Coimbra in 1940 to continue his studies. He studied in the D. João III Lyceum and lived with his aunt Avrilete. His