Music censorship and its educational potential in the portuguese dictatorship in the decades of 1960 and 1970 - doi: 10.4025/actascieduc.v35i1.19055

Abstract

This article presents an investigation on the state censorship to the songs and musicals during the two last decades of Portuguese dictatorship. The research was carried out through the review and analysis of material from the archives of PIDE/DGS (Polícia Internacional de Defesa do Estado/ Direcção-Geral de Segurança – International Police of State Defense / General Directorate of Security), as well as from the unpublished censorial processes collected in the archives of the Secretariado Nacional de Informação (SNI) (National Information Office), both based in the Torre do Tombo, in Lisbon. The analyses of these documents revealed which were the main banned topics, particularly with basis on the legal principles to which these songs were submitted, as well as on the justifications used by censors. The option for addressing songs in this text is also justified by its vigorous social insertion through the media and the phonographic and publishing industries. This art form has certainly contributed to the cultural background of listeners, including its characteristic of being an educational agent. In this sense, in a period that illiteracy and low educational level predominated in Portugal, songs could be powerful instruments of cultural education and could have informative content, justifying their control by the State.