José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso dos Santos (August 2, 1929 – February 23, 1987) was a Portuguese songwriter and singer. He is also known by the familiar diminutive of Zeca Afonso, although he never used this stage name. He is the author of Grândola, Vila Morena, which was used by the Armed Forces Movement to confirm that the Revolution of the 25th of April was underway.
He was awarded by Casa da Imprensa as the best composer and performer of light music in 1969, 1970 and 1971.
He was also honored by the Municipality of Lagos, which named him after a street in the parish of Santa Maria.
Other Portuguese municipalities have also inscribed it in their toponymy, namely: Porto, Alcácer do Sal, Alcochete, Grândola, Pinhal Novo, Sines, Santo Tirso, Belmonte and many others.
In the municipality of Moita, the school group of the parish of Alhos Vedros was named after him. Also in Loures, School Group No. 2 was named after him in 2016.
In 2007, he was honored at the IX Grande Noite do Fado Académico, at Casa da Música (Porto), organized by the ISEP Fado Group and the ISEP Student Association (Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto).
In April of the same year, a gala was organized in honor of the singer, entitled “Sempre Abril Sempre”, at the Palacio de Congressos de Pontevedra, in Galicia, a nation with which Zeca Afonso has always maintained a close connection. This gala was broadcast on 25 April 2007 by the public television stations of Galicia (TVG) and Portugal (RTP).
On May 10, 2009, a park with his name was inaugurated in front of the Galicia Auditorium in Santiago de Compostela, the city where in 1972 Zeca Afonso sang for the first time the theme “Grândola, Vila Morena” in public.
In 2011, for the first time, a Philharmonic dedicated a tribute concert to José Afonso. The Idanhense Philharmonic, accompanied by Janita Salomé, paid tribute to José Afonso with the concert “Canções de Abril”. The concert had the support of AJA – Associação José Afonso, and in the following years he performed on several stages in the country.