Africa-Press – Angola. The MPLA awarded, this Thursday, with two medals, the singer and songwriter Carlos Lamartine, for his achievements in favor of the nation.
The decoration was carried out with the delivery of two medals called “Militante de Vanguarda and “Hoji ya Henda”, by MPLA vice-president Luísa Damião.
The distinction ceremony took place on the occasion of the celebration of the twenty-first anniversary of Peace and National Reconciliation, marked on Tuesday.
During her speech, the vice-president of the MPLA, Luísa Damião, said that it is with “immense satisfaction” that the party distinguished Carlos Lamartine, whom it considers to be a militant and citizen who very early on embraced the ideals of freedom and the defense of homeland.
He also underlined that Lamartine is one of the main artisans of Angolan popular music and that he has become the most popular musician, having been co-author of the National Anthem of Angola “Angola Avante”.
For Luísa Damião, music is one of the forms of social expression and popular culture that plays an important role in building identities in modern society, breaking down barriers of cultural differences, enabling new social practices.
For this reason, he stressed, Carlos Lamartine represents a generation whose principles of artistic creation are linked to the exaltation of political history, freedom and defense of uses and customs, which exalts culture.
When extolling the qualities of the honoree, he said that he belongs to a generation of Angolan musicians that embraced as basic principles the exaltation of Angola’s political history, freedom and the defense of cultural values.
The vice-president stressed that homage and titles of distinction are part of the social rewards that men in society and groups establish to positively sanction those actors whose social conduct, in a certain segment of public life or another field, represents an ideal socially desirable and estimable.
He stressed that whenever someone is honored or distinguished, social education is simultaneously being carried out, as the new generations learn with these gestures which paths to follow.
The musician
Carlos Lamartine was born in Benguela on March 29, 1943, but it was in Marçal, in Luanda, where he took his first musical steps.
He was the main conductor of the Grupo Coral Gigante of the Act of Proclamation of the Independence of Angola, on November 11, 1975, and of the Choir in the Act of Taking of Possession of the 1st. Government of the People’s Republic of Angola, which took place at the Municipality of Luanda.
Former cultural attaché in the Federative Republic of Brazil, Carlos Lamartine is a retired member of the Ministry of Culture.
He had several distinctions, such as the National Prize for Culture and Arts in the Music category, in 2017, and the Career Prize at the AMA (Angola Music Awards).
The artist was also honored at the Festival da Canção de Luanda da LAC, in 2013, in an edition where the competitors interpreted themes of his authorship.
Carlos Lamartine, as he is known in music, was one of the founders of the group “Os Kissanguela”, having joined other musical groups as a vocalist and drummer. He then embarked on a solo career, accompanied by the best Angolan groups of the time.
He also stands out as a writer with his first book, published by Mayamba, entitled “Being a poet in harmonies and silence”, which was released exactly on the day he turned 80 years old.
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