Manuel Freire (Manuel Augusto Coentro de Pinho Freire) is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Port ...

influential

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in so ...

singer and composer, although he also works as a computer technician. Freire was born in

Vagos Vagos () is a town and a municipality in Aveiro District, belonging to Centro Region of Portugal. The district capital, Aveiro, is its nearest large city. Its population in 2011 was 22,851 in an area of 164.92 km2, and it had 17,204 eligible ...

Aveiro District Aveiro District ( pt, Distrito de Aveiro, or ) is located in the central coastal region of Portugal. The capital of the district is the city of Aveiro, which also serves as the seat of Aveiro Municipality. Aveiro District is bordered by the Po ...

on 25 April 1942. Freire's first work was an EP, released in 1968, with the title "Livre" ("Free"), that included 4 songs. "Livre", "Dedicatória", "Pedro Soldado" and "Eles". The best-known song was "Livre", a hymn to the free will and thought as the album was released during the Fascist regime of

Oliveira Salazar Oliveira may refer to: People * Oliveira (surname), which includes D'Oliveira * Oliveira (footballer, born 1981), full name Ederaldo Antonio de Oliveira, Brazilian football goalkeeper * Oliveira (footballer, born 1985), full name Bruno Giglio de ...

, against the official censorship. After that, Freire became a close friend of some of the most influential left-wing musicians like

Zeca Afonso Zeca may refer to: * José Afonso (1929–1987), Portuguese folk and political musician also known mononymously as Zeca * Zeca (footballer, born 1946), full name Jose Luiz Ferreira Rodrigues, Brazilian football manager known mononymously as Zeca * ...

, Padre Fanhais or

Adriano Correia de Oliveira Adriano Maria Correia Gomes de Oliveira, GCIH, ComL, or just Adriano (April 9, 1942 – October 16, 1982) was a Portuguese musician, born to a conservative Roman Catholic family in Porto. His family moved to Avintes after his birth. He went to C ...

. Some years later, still during the dictatorial regime, Freire participated in a TV show, in the only Portuguese station operating at the time, RTP, the "Zip-Zip", singing a poem by

António Gedeão António Gedeão (b. Rómulo Vasco da Gama Carvalho, GCSE, GOIP; 24 November 1906 – 19 February 1997) was a Portuguese poet, essayist, writer and playwright, who also published several works related to science. António Gedeão was an alter ...

called "Pedra Filosofal" ("

Philosopher's Stone The philosopher's stone or more properly philosophers' stone (Arabic: حجر الفلاسفة, , la, lapis philosophorum), is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (, from the Greek , "gold", ...

") that became his most well-known song. Later, he released an album composed by 11 songs, which had lyrics written by Portuguese poets, like

, José Gomes Ferreira,

Fernando Assis Pacheco Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the Ge ...

Eduardo Olímpio Eduardo is the Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte (name), Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and spor ...

Sidónio Muralha Sidónio is a masculine given name which may refer to: * Sidónio Pais (1872–1918), Portuguese politician, military officer, diplomat and president of the First Portuguese Republic * Sidónio (footballer) (born 1939), Portuguese former footballer ...

and

José Saramago José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE ComSE GColCa (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), was a Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony ith which he ...

. For this album, Freire received the Portuguese Press Award, the most prestigious prize awarded to a musician in Portugal, at the time. After the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lis ...

, in 1974, Freire continued his political action through the music, acting for the working class in several places around the country. In 1978, he returned with another album, "Devolta", once more, singing poems of great Portuguese poets. He then continued his work as a computer technician, but returned in 1993 with a re-edition of his work "Pedra Filosofal". In 1995, he performed in the opening of the

Festa do Avante! The ''Avante!'' Festival ( pt, Festa do Avante!) is an annual cultural festival held during the first weekend of September. It was started in 1976 by the Portuguese Communist Party and is named after the party's official newspaper, ''Avante!'' ...

, a cultural event, carried out by the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portug ...

. His show, along with the Portuguese

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

band

Brigada Victor Jara ''Brigada'' (russian: Бригада), also known as ''Law of the Lawless'', is a Russian 15-episode crime television miniseries that debuted in 2002. It became very popular in Russia and ex-Soviet countries as well as Eastern Europe, but receiv ...

, was an homage to

. Nowadays, he continues his career, often playing in

Trade Union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

or Communist rallies. In 2003, Freire was elected president of the Portuguese Society of Authors. As of July 2010, he still holds that position.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freire, Manuel 1942 births Living people People from Vagos Portuguese anti-fascists Portuguese songwriters Male songwriters 20th-century Portuguese male singers