This project aims to explore the place of music, radio broadcasting and political propaganda during the liberation war that opposed the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) to the Portuguese dictatorship from 1964 to 1974. Throughout this conflict, Radio was chosen by both factions as the primary propaganda medium since it provided effective communication all over the territory and because 93% of the population was illiterate. Although a central part of warfare, the sonorous dimensions of radio broadcasting – including the choice of language, news, political ideologies, and music – are surprisingly absent from the scholarly narratives on this conflict. This project intends to fill this gap by considering the relationships between the sonorous dimensions of radio broadcasting and the values that undergirded nation-building through sound.
Using the ‘ethnography of the past’ as my primary methodological strategy, drawing on archival work and interviews, this project explores the production and reception processes pertaining to two radio stations reflecting opposing political stances: ‘A Voz de Moçambique’, founded in 1962 by the Portuguese political police (PIDE) to counter the rise of liberation movements; and ‘A Voz da Frelimo’, broadcasting from Tanzania and Zambia to promote the Liberation Front’s ideals. It aims at understanding the main production models, including the instrumentalisation of local expressive practices to serve different ideological values endorsed by both protagonists. It will also delve into multiple listening experiences by different social actors, including radio producers, soldiers, and the general population. By considering different musical contents, this project also aims to identify the role of these radio stations in the production of different notions of ‘sameness’ and ‘otherness’, and contribute to the re-evaluation of the prevalent – and predominantly Eurocentric –narratives on this conflict in African soil.
Keywords: Music and Politics, Post-colonial Studies, Nationalism, Radio, Conflict.
