Angola–Portugal relations Angola–Portugal relations Angola–Portugal relations have significantly improved since the Angolan government abandoned communism and nominally embraced democracy in 1991, embracing a pro-U.S. and to a lesser degree pro-Europe foreign policy. Portugal ruled Angola for 400 years, colonizing the territory from 1483 until independence in 1975. Angola's war for independence did not end in a military victory for either side, but was suspended as a result of a coup in Portugal, that replaced the Caetano regime with a National Salvation JuntaThe Portuguese government recognized the authority of the MPLA, under the command of President Agostinho Neto, on December 22, 1976 and
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