#45 EN Miguel Cardoso - Zeca Afonso’s "Utopia"

Dito e Feito

This session glosses Zeca Afonso's song 'Utopia' (from the 1983 album Como se fora seu filho) in the light of English theorist Mark Fisher's writings on the disconcerted temporality of music and its refusal to give up on the future in the face of its apparent blockage. It attempts to make heard the contradictions of the hangover from the revolutionary process in Portugal in the early 1980s and the echoes that still reach us today. In 1983, the future of the revolution was past. More past is now. What is the temporality of Zeca Afonso's 'Utopia', forty years later? What future can still be heard in the lost tomorrows, in the unfulfilled promises of that time? Can 'Utopia' still sound and resonate in the present, contain futures between the lines of its ritual repetition in the form of the commemoration of "Abril"?" Miguel Cardoso is a translator and poet. He has published poems, essays and other texts in several anthologies and journals. He conceived this episode of Fito e Feito in the context of a session of the Kismif Conference (Porto, 2022) entitled "MARK FISHER & MUSIC: A COLLECTIVE LISTENING SESSION", with Simon Reynolds, Ana Bigotte Vieira, David Wilkinson, Felipe Felizardo, Matthew Worley, Miguel Cardoso, Paula Guerra and Pedro Quintela. Songs and sounds used in this episode Utopia”, Zeca Afonso, Como se fora seu filho (1983) “Fireworks, Siouxsie and the Banshees – um single de 1982 “Grândola, Vila Morena”, Zeca Afonso, Cantigas do Maio (1971) “Canção da Jorna”, Casal do Leste, Guardador de Ódios (2013) Casal do Leste – Guardador de Ódios (2013, File) - Discogs Soundtrack from the film Bom Povo Português, by Rui Simões (1981) “Papuça”, Zeca Afonso, Como se fora seu filho (1983) “Nature Boy”, John Coltrane, New Wave in Jazz (1965) Recorded at PontoZurca Estúdio Dito e Feito original music Raw Forest Dito e Feito sound editing Pedro Macedo / Framed Films