Poetry
Poemas
Not translated into English
António Jacinto · 1961
Synopsis
Fourteen poems of Angolan life under colonial rule. Several speak of contract labour: “Monangamba” takes its name from the contract worker, “Carta dum contratado” demands for Black people the right to education and denounces exploitation, “Castigo pró combóio malandro” follows the workers' train. Other pieces speak of the musseques, poverty, memory and childhood, with African words and refrains.
Context
The collection appeared in Lisbon in 1961, the ninth title in the Autores Ultramarinos series of the Casa dos Estudantes do Império, with a cover drawn by José Luandino Vieira, in the year of its author's arrest. The poems date from 1950 to 1953; their author had fallen silent afterwards. “Monangamba” was adapted into French and sung by Colette Magny in 1964. A second edition appeared in Luanda in 1985, another in 2015, printed in forty-five thousand copies.
Who it is for
Poems in Portuguese, sprinkled with Angolan words and refrains; no French or English translation of the collection.
Prizes and reception
Included in almost all African anthologies in Portuguese; several poems, which became songs, have entered the country's folklore.
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