'Victory is Certain': Angolan Political Ballads in the MPLAs Ideological Discourse

Posted: 22 Mar 2013

Date Written: 2013

Abstract

The euphoria felt in 1975, when Angola declared its independence, was dampened by an immediate armed conflict involving the three nationalist movements (the MPLA, UNITA, and the FNLA), each hoping to gain control of the country. Known as the Second War of Liberation, this conflict involved both internal and external players. Fidel Castro’s army arrived, with the financial support of the Soviet Union, to ensure the success of the MPLA’s plan to unilaterally declare independence in 1975. The South Africans, backed by American interests, responded by providing UNITA with military support, while Zaire bankrolled the FNLA army. In the aftermath of the conflict, the MPLA, who was able to seize power due to Cuba’s tremendous support, understood the need to engage in a significant political and cultural project to build a discourse of a united nation, in hopes of giving its government the necessary legitimacy to remain in power. Music and literature became important media for the inculcation of the MPLA’s ideological vision for the country. The album “Victory is Certain”, recorded at the National Radio Station in Luanda, in 1978, is a compilation of twelve songs, whose lyrics convey a specific message of struggle, victory, and political re-construction, from within the MPLA discourse. Sung in Portuguese and in two local languages, Kimbundu and Umbundu, these songs, always in the present tense, clearly illustrate who and what the MPLA wishes define as truly Angolan.

Suggested Citation

Teixeira, Ana, 'Victory is Certain': Angolan Political Ballads in the MPLAs Ideological Discourse (2013). ASA 2013 Annual Meeting Paper , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2237021

Ana Teixeira (Contact Author)

Emory University ( email )

201 Dowman Drive
Atlanta, GA 30322
United States

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