Fernando Lopes-Graça and Amílcar Vasques-Dias are linked in their musical reflections on Portuguese identity, but at widely differing points in that country’s history. Lopes-Graça transformed traditional songs into poetic and hard-edged statements, helping to create a ‘national collective spirit’ that would not be bowed by dictatorship. Vasques-Dias’s approach to folk culture is based on more personal feelings and emotions, recalling the countryside of his childhood and its landscapes today.