David Zé

He was born David Gabriel José Ferreira on August 23, 1944, in Quifangondo, Luanda Province. He was the son of Gabriel José Ferreira and Carolina José Afonso, both choristers of the Methodist Church. He attended primary and secondary education in the province of Cuanza Norte. For a while he worked at a foundry in Hoji Ya Henda.[1]

In November 1976 he married Maria Trindade, while on military duty in São Tomé and Príncipe. He had four children, Miguel Gabriel Ferreira, Maria Carolina David Ferreira, Deolinda David Gabriel Ferreira and David Gabriel José Ferreira.[1]

Unidentified Bissau-Guinean soldier, David Zé, Fatinha, Urbano de Castro and Artur Nunes on military duty

Unidentified Bissau-Guinean soldier, David Zé, Fatinha, Urbano de Castro and Artur Nunes on military duty

In 1966, David Zé met the singer Urbano de Castro, who convinced him to pursue a musical career. He met with a brand new Jovens do Prenda who were just getting started and went on to release his first singles "Dilangue" and "Kadika Zeka".[1]

Along with de Castro and Artur Nunes he formed a trio of the most popular singers of the early 1970s, a period which is described by music historians as the "golden era" of Angolan music. Their music was central to the new cultural and nationalistic sense of identity which developed in Angola at the time, making them targets of the Portuguese authorities. They were known for politically charged music which were a mixture of Semba, Merengue, Rumba and Bolero.[2]

Artur Nunes, David Zé, Urbano de Castro and Santocas (in order) performing in a show with the FAPLA Povo Alliance.

His 1975 abum "Mutudi Ua Ufolo/Viúva Da Liberdade", released in the year of Angola's independence, is considered his most celebrated work and among the most iconic albums from that era.[3][4]

After Angola obtained independence, David Zé enjoyed great appreciation from the newly installed president Agostinho Neto, who commissioned him to attend the independence celebrations of Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Guinea-Bissau, where he performed the song "Quem Matou Cabral". He was the coordinator of the musical group Aliança Fapla-Povo, who accompanied Neto on all his tours, whether home or abroad, and was meant as a sort of itinerant embassy of Angolan culture.[1][3]

On 27 May 1977, Nito Alves, a hardline member of the MPLA and leader of the Fractionist group, launched a failed coup against Agostinho Neto, which lead to a wave of reprisals that left thousand dead. Zé, alongside fellow musicians de Castro and Nunes were among those killed, but no official account of their death exists.[3][5]

David Zé was seen as a supporter of Neto, which he made abundantly clear in his lyrics, so the reasons for which he was singled out by the regime remain unclear.[3][6] According to some sources, he was a member of the coup or at the very least, sympathetic towards it, while historian Marissa J. Moorman maintains that the popularity of MPLA's musicians began to eclipse that of its leaders, who were beginning to be seen increasingly as out of touch, and that worried the authorities enough to eliminate them.[5][7]

After his death, David Zé's music was unofficially banned from radio and remained banned for more than a decade after his death.[5] The clampdown on free speech and cultural activities that followed the coup, as well as the demise of the Companhia De Discos De Angola record label, which released much of Zé's music, further contributed to the erasure of his legacy.[8]

After the end of the Angolan Civil War, a renewed interest in Zé's music developed. In 2001, an annual festival called "Super Caldo do Poeira" was established to celebrate the music of David Zé and other early pioneers of semba music.[9][10] In 2004, a double CD edited by Rádio Nacional de Angola and titled Memorias de David Zé was released, collecting a substantial part of the singer's work.[1]

The song "Friends" by Nas and Damian Marley samples 'Undenge Uami', which appears on Mutudi Ua Ufolo.[8]