Who would have said that we were gonna have a seventies inspired song representing Portugal in 2011? Well, it seems this is the moment for it as in the Portuguese national selection back in March, the collective Homens Da Luta got the most televotes to wave the flag of their country in Düsseldorf.
The controversy
A controversial choice, especially due to what some consider to be protest lyrics as we can also witness in the comments of our YouTube channel where some Portuguese users like NunoGregorioTV explains that "...it's not a left-wing political song as it has been said. It's pure humor", while non-portuguese like JasminefromFT state that "if they want to express something, whatever it is, they should've done this in English so that we can understand...".
If you can't understand Portuguese, you can read the lyrics in English (The Struggle Is Joy) and in French (La Lutte Est La Joie) in the Participant Profile of Portugal and judge for yourselves while checking the video:
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Collective singing
Homens Da Luta first appeared on TV five years ago in a comedy show. However, soon they were travelling through the cities, towns, and villages of Portugal, spreading their music and their sense of humour and now want to reach the rest of Europe through the screens.
They are inspired by the musical universe of the revolutionary period after April 25 1974, and by the tradition of collective singing, which was so fashionable in the late 1970s. As a testimony of this, back in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, Os Amigos represented Portugal with Portugal No Coração and reached a 14th place in Wembley.
The band is led by the unavoidable Neto and Falâncio, brothers Nuno “Jel” and Vasco Duarte, who also wrote A Luta É Alegria.
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With this unusual attempt Portugal will try to conquer the hearts of Europe and win the competition for the first time since they entered in 1964. Their best placing to date, 6th in Oslo in 1996 with Lúcia Moniz and O Meu Coração Não Tem Cor.
Portugal reached the Final in the past three editions of the contest and this year they participate in the first Semi-Final on Tuesday the 10th of May.
