In his latest article, João Mineiro (CRIA, Iscte) analyses cultural struggles, disputes over memory and the reinvention of the future in contemporary Black and Afro-Portuguese music, against the backdrop of the commemorations marking the 50th anniversary of the 25 April 1974 revolution and African independence. The article examines how musicians of African origin or descent, through albums released between 2022 and 2024, challenged the depoliticised ‘heritagisation’ of the Revolution and re-inscribed anti-colonial counter-memories into the cultural discourses of the present. It argues that, by juxtaposing temporalities, geographies, and cultural and political legacies, these sonic, poetic, and visual repertoires have exposed colonial continuities, destabilised the commemorative consensus, and reconfigured the past as a field of contestation. The study concludes that this gesture expanded the possibilities of listening and opened up space for a renewal of political and emancipatory imaginaries, mobilising a vision of a possible future that is projected through sampling, poetry, rhythm and dance. The text was published in Horizontes Antropológicos, as part of a thematic dossier on Africa and the Caribbean, edited by Handerson Joseph, José Carlos Gomes dos Anjos and Cláudio Alves Furtado.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9983e0740609