Portugal has some similarities to Brazil in what concerns patriotic music.

The country lived under a dictatorial regime during the biggest part of the 20th century. Back then popular culture was heavily influenced by the regime and there were many songs that spoke of Portugal as a great country and of it's people as fearless explorers and whatnot. It was a way of promoting in people's minds the idea that the portuguese people (and therefore its goverment) were infalible and justify the poverty, lack of education and healthcare, and ultramarine war the people were subjected to.

After 1974, when the dictatorship ended, the patriotic songs became less frequent and less popular as well, apart from some exceptions.

There are some ethnographic groups that perform those types of songs and some have a degree of popularity (and are no longer connoted with the regime).

There were some hits in the 80's that could fill this category but they spoke of past glories during the conquer of the seas.

Fado (a type of music and also a word for fate) has some songs that speak of Portugal and the portuguese but the stories are personal most of the times. They refer to something that happened to somebody and they don't teach specific values as far as I know.

Nowadays the most patriotic songs that still appear now and then are usually made by emigrants or for emigrants and tell stories of people who miss the country they were born in.

Curiously enough I think that the portuguese are patriotic and proud. The problem seems to be the language or the way we pronounce words which makes some things hard to sing about without them sounding strange and completely unappealing.


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