Culture
Perhaps the most important cultural event in
Angola is the Carnival in February each year. The
celebration engages the country for a week and has a
long history.
Music and dance play a major role in the many Angolan
cultures. The rich music scene has deep historical roots
in its own country, but influences also come from, for
example, West Africa and Brazil. Through music and dance
- such as the kudoron so popular outside Angola in the
mid-2010s - the Angolans have over the years had the
opportunity to express things that would otherwise be
banned in society, such as criticism of the corrupt
regime. In northern Angola there is a rich sculptural
art with roots in the old kingdom (see Older history).
The puffins and chokewomen also have impressive art
traditions.
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Countryaah:
Latest population statistics of Angola, including religious profiles and major languages spoken as well as population growth rates in next three decades.
The country's first president after independence,
Agostinho Neto, was a featured lyricist. Together with
poets such as Geraldo Bessa Victor and Mário António,
Neto has depicted the gaps between poor and rich in
Angola.
Otherwise, it was José Luandino Vieira who in the
1950s gave modern Angolan literature its breakthrough.
Artur Pestana dos Santos, who writes under the pseudonym
Pepetela, is one of the country's most important
writers. José Eduardo Agualusa is award winning in the
UK and several of his books have been translated into
Swedish. Ondjaki (pseudonym of Ndalu de Almeida, born
1977) has been awarded numerous awards and is considered
one of Africa's most promising Portuguese-speaking young
writers. His novels Whistler and Good
Morning Comrades have been translated into Swedish.
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Songaah: List and lyrics of songs related to the country name of Angola. Artists and albums are also included.
 Mass Media
State-owned mass media dominate Angola's
media landscape. Officially, press freedom is
guaranteed, but in practice the media lives under tight
state control, both administratively and financially,
forcing journalists and editors to self-censor.
Conditions for the media improved somewhat after the
end of the war in 2002 and the independent media became
increasingly bold and outspoken. In 2006, Parliament
adopted a new media law which, despite shortcomings,
meant a step towards increased media freedom, including
for privately owned etheric media.
Recently, several journalists have been murdered
under unclear circumstances. Others have been subjected
to abuse, censorship, threats and reprisals of various
kinds. The journalist Rafael Marques at Rádio
Despertar (Awake), funded by the opposition
party Unita, was arrested in the summer of 2015 when he
was about to report from a peaceful demonstration.
Police surrounded the radio station's premises to
prevent other journalists from reporting on the
demonstration in Marque's place. Just before that,
Marques had been sentenced to six months' conditional
imprisonment for slander after writing a book on
corruption and human rights violations in Angola's
diamond industry (see Calendar). The fact that the
punishment did not get harsher may have been due to
great international attention.
It is a criminal offense to insult the president and
government institutions. Angola was ranked 123 out of
180 countries in the organization Reporters Without
Borders Press Freedom Index 2015.
The only daily newspaper is the state-owned and
government- friendly O Jornal de Angola
(Angola newspaper). Independent weekly newspapers such
as Agora (Nu) and Folha 8
(Sheet 8) have, however, increased their publication in
recent years and not least offer on the Internet
alternatives to the state-controlled information.
The printed newspapers mainly reach an elite in the
capital Luanda. There are some regional newspapers with
irregular publishing, but most Angolans get their
information via radio. The state-owned radio company
Rádio Nacional de Angola dominates the
ether with channels in several indigenous languages
and coverage across virtually the entire country. The
Catholic Church's often government- critical
Rádio Ecclésia and the independent commercial
radio station Luanda Antena Comercial
broadcast in the Luanda area. One goal of the new Media
Act of 2006 was to break the radio and TV monopoly, but
privately owned radio channels have sometimes found it
difficult to obtain broadcast permits from the
authorities.
The state-owned television company Televisão
Pública de Angola has two channels. In
addition, there is also a pay-TV channel with Portuguese
and Brazilian programs.
Angola had 4.3 million Internet users in 2014. The
population was 22.1 million that year.
FACTS - MASS MEDIA
Percentage of the population using the
internet
14 percent (2017)
Number of mobile subscriptions per 100
residents
43 (2018)
2012
October
Government investment fund is established
A government investment fund is set up and receives
start-up capital of US $ 5 billion. In practice, the
fund will collect the surplus from oil exports by model
from the Norwegian Oil Fund (see Finance and Norway,
Natural Resources and Energy).
August
Dos Santos becomes the country's president
Already before the election, Unita has accused MPLA
of irregularities, such as manipulation of voting
lengths and more. Unita carries out its own vote.
However, the election is largely approved by the African
Union (AU) observers, while some election observers from
the West complain that they have not been given access
to the polling stations. The MPLA's electoral victory
means that dos Santos is re-elected president, as the
new constitution stipulates that the leader of
parliament's largest party automatically becomes head of
state and government.
MPLA wins parliamentary elections
In the parliamentary elections, MPLA gets almost 72
percent of the vote, while Unita wins just under 19
percent. The newly formed Casa-CE receives 6 percent.
The result means that MPLA loses 16 seats to Unita.
July
Green light for MPLA and Unita
The Constitutional Court approves 5 parties and 4
partial alliances of 27 political groups who applied to
stand in the parliamentary elections in August of the
same year. MPLA and Unita are among those approved.
May
Manager post is withdrawn after accusations
The Supreme Court rejects the appointment of a new
head of the National Electoral Commission after the
opposition complained that the nominee was not
politically neutral.
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