Anywhere Else But Here Today...: February 2011

Freedom Now: Sounds of Portugal is the latest in our series of mixtapes, and it can be downloaded for free here. The collection draws heavily on the folk songs or canção de intervenção that were part of the protest movement against the totalitarian regime in Portugal, and the performers were an important part of the resistance that led to The Carnation Revolution on 24 April 1974. The folk music itself featured here (from before the revolution and after) is incredibly inventive and seems to absorb all sorts of influences, such as French, Brazilian and African popular song. There's plenty of pop included in this mix, too, featuring some of the artists included in the Portuguese sequences here. Special thanks, as ever, go to Per-Christian Hille for the fantastic cover.