Para Além de uma Escolha: Da música de crítica e protesto social às identidades político-partidárias em Moçambique

In the debate on governance processes in Africa, the youth have shown themselves to be a fundamental social actor, engaged in questioning and challenging, through the arts and culture, the avenues of governance that senior state representatives take. If, on the one hand, musicians begin to approach directly the political leaders, protesting the lack of accountability and demanding a fair dialogue on the representation of their interests, on the other hand, the political leaders seek to exert a social control of the art of the musicians, making them mobilize in their expressions of criticism and social protest, extolling ‘nationalist’ and ‘patriotic’ issues. This article explores how the songs of criticism and social protest are a starting point for the understanding of how party-political identities are forged discursively by the musicians, in particular the musician Azagaia and his audience in Mozambique