Angola–Cuba relations that Angola's large oil reserves would serve well to make it a rich and strong backer of a Marxist expansion, Cuba focused on primarily supporting Angolan Marxist rebel movements over the liberation movements of other Portuguese colonies, thus beginning the special relationship between Cuba and Angola. Portugal set Angola's independence date for 11 November 1975. Three prominent liberation movements contended for the role of leading the newly formed independent country, namely: UNITA, FNLA and the MPLA. Each of the three movements received foreign assistance, UNITA from western countries, FNLA from China (and later from the West) and MPLA from the
Music of Angola settled in Rotterdam, where he became closely associated with the Cape Verdean community. Bonga's "Mona Ki Ngi Xica" (1972) earned him an arrest warrant, and he began travelling between Germany, France and Belgium until Angola gained independence in 1975. After independence came civil war. Many popular musicians were killed, and some who were spared simply left the country. In the early 1980s, Angolan popular music was deeply influenced by Cuban music, especially in the work of André Mingas and brother Rui Mingas. Cuban Rumba was popular and influential across southern Africa, including Angola's neighbor Zaire (renamed the Democratic Republic of