Capicua celebrates 25 April in Aliados

On the evening of April 24, Avenida dos Aliados will host a show celebrating April 25, the date that has become the enduring symbol of the fight for freedom and democracy. At 10pm, in the year that marks Carlos Paredes' centenary, there will be a tribute to the master of the Portuguese guitar, followed by a concert by rapper and writer Capicua. At 11.40pm it's the turn of the Coral de Letras da Universidade do Porto to take to the stage to perform songs of intervention. The celebrations end at midnight with a fireworks display.

On the subject of the concert in Aliados, Agenda Porto spoke to Capicua, who has just released a new album, “Um gelado no fim do mundo”, which she will perform live, as well as some surprises. We went to talk to this unsubmissive voice about the causes that still need to be fought for, 51 years after the Carnation Revolution.

Agenda Porto: There's plenty to choose from for the causes of this end of the world. But what stirs you?

Capicua: This record talks a bit about the spirit of the age, about the big problems and issues of our time. The songs themselves talk about social networks, climate change, the rise of the far right, or poetry being extinct in the world of artificial intelligence. The big thematic umbrella is this sense of the end of the world, where we seem to have lost the ability to imagine the future as something that can be positive. We stop thinking about the future, we stop thinking about alternatives to our form of social and economic organization, even though the one we have is totally unsustainable and is leading to the extinction of the species.

AP: However, the album isn't just about the end of the world, there's also an ice cream...

C: That ice cream points to the pause I'm proposing on this record. A pause to renew vows with a poetic side, so to speak. With enchantment, but also with a critical spirit, hope and our ability to see the beauty in things - and thus recharge our batteries for the fight.

AP: So it's an invitation to slow down before acting?

C: Exactly. And, at the same time, to think about what we're going to do next, to discuss possibilities around the table, which is something we don't do anymore. Thinking about the world and imagining other alternatives to the way we organize ourselves, and also, at the same time, rescuing a poetic side so that we can see the beauty in things, instead of the cynical, half-asleep gaze in which everything is trivialized. That infinite scroll in which we seek escapism and alienation. It's a disenchantment that leads us to lack the will to mobilize and fight for the world.

AP: You have children and you do a lot of work with children. How do you talk to young people about these issues?

C: It's very complex. I have the “Green Hand” project in which I, Pedro Geraldo, António Serginho and Francisca Cortesão make ecological music for children. And this generation is looking much more urgently at the climate crisis than previous generations. And what you even see more often is adults not wanting to talk about it and preferring to distract themselves with other things - while young people think about these issues in a more pragmatic way, with more urgency, with more need. It's distressing to talk about these issues with all ages, but with young people it fills me with hope to see them motivated and mobilized, and much more combative than the older generations.

AP: So it's an invitation to slow down before taking action?

C: Exactly. And, at the same time, to think about what we're going to do next, to discuss possibilities around the table, which is something we don't do anymore. Thinking about the world and imagining other alternatives to the way we organize ourselves, and also, at the same time, rescuing a poetic side so that we can see the beauty in things, instead of the cynical, half-asleep gaze in which everything is trivialized. That infinite scroll in which we seek escapism and alienation. It's a disenchantment that leads us to lack the will to mobilize and fight for the world.

AP: You have children and you do a lot of work with children. How do you talk to young people about these issues?

C: It's very complex. I have the “Green Hand” project in which I, Pedro Geraldo, António Serginho and Francisca Cortesão make ecological music for children. And this generation is looking much more urgently at the climate crisis than previous generations. And what you even see more often is adults not wanting to talk about it and preferring to distract themselves with other things - while young people think about these issues in a more pragmatic way, with more urgency, with more need. It's distressing to talk about these issues with all ages, but with young people it fills me with hope to see them motivated and mobilized, and much more combative than the older generations.

AP: And what needs to be done at the moment?

C: I think we need to honor and fulfill the revolution we made in 1974, in other words, continue to respect our Constitution, which is quite good. Defending what April gave us, which is public schools, the National Health Service, freedom - that would be spectacular. But we should also work towards having a fairer and more equal country, with fewer social difficulties - and carry out the decolonization that remains to be done, which is decolonization inside people's heads.