Porto’s city center will commemorate the 50th anniversary of April 25, 1974 with several concerts, a videomapping show, activities for families, fireworks and the Freedom Parade, it was revealed today.
In a statement, Porto City Council said today that in the commemorations “of the day that changed the country”, Avenida dos Aliados and Praça do General Humberto Delgado “will become the central places”.
On the evening of April 24th, a videomapping show alluding to the date will kick off the celebrations at 10pm. The show is the result of a collaboration between the Commemorative Commission for the 50th anniversary of April 25, RTP, photographer Alfredo Cunha, musician Rodrigo Leão and artist Vhils.
Fifteen minutes later, Avenida dos Aliados will host the “Aliados à Liberdade” concert, with the participation of Canto Nono, Vozes da Rádio and the Coral de Letras da Universidade do Porto.
The “great themes of freedom” that marked the revolution will be sung at the concert, which ends with the singing of Grândola Vila Morena and the fireworks display at midnight, “coloring the city’s skies with the most diverse colors of freedom”.
On April 25, the program has proposals “for all ages”. Activities for the whole family are planned in Praça do General Humberto Delgado, starting at 10am.
Another of the program’s “big moments” will take place from 2:30 p.m. on the 25th, with a tribute to the anti-fascist resistance at Largo Soares dos Reis, next to the former PIDE headquarters. The tribute will be followed by a freedom parade.
The parade will set off from Largo Soares dos Reis and pass along Avenida Rodrigues de Freitas, Rua D. João IV, Rua de Santo Ildefonso, Rua de Passos Manuel, Rua de Sá da Bandeira, Praça D. João I, Rua de Rodrigues Sampaio, and finish at Avenida dos Aliados.
The Avenida dos Aliados will once again host various commemorative events in the afternoon, with the concert “Celebrating 50 years of Freedom Day” scheduled to start at 3pm, with musical direction by André Castro and the participation of Marco Quaresma, Pedro Matos, Sofia Beco, Beatriz Cerqueira, Tiago Pacheco, Fernando Maia and Leonardo Carvalho.
It will be precisely on Avenida dos Aliados that the various commemorative and evocative moments of that afternoon begin.
At 4 p.m., the Commission for the Popular Commemorations of April 25 is expected to speak and at 4:15 p.m. there will be a concert with the Cara de Espelho project, a group that results from the meeting of Portuguese musicians such as Deolinda, Ornatos Violeta, Gaiteiros de Lisboa, A Naifa, Humanos.
The celebrations taking place in Porto are the result of a partnership between the municipal company Ágora and the Commission for the Popular Commemorations of April 25.
