IN THE ARCHIPELAGO OF MUSIC, STAGES AND STREETS OF CAPE VERDE, IN LOULÉ
Creole can be heard in the winding streets of the historic center. In one of them, there's a wall with colorful motifs that replicates the National Center of Art, Crafts, and Design (CNAD), which opened in Mindelo in 2022. Entering through a beautiful hallway, you'll find the Cloister of the Espírito Santo Convent. On the left, a woman makes crafts. On the right, people eat cachupa and drink grogue. In the center, there's a concertina, a ferrinho, and Black bodies dancing.
These days, we're in the "patio" of Cabo Verde, in Loulé, a kind of new island in the archipelago, as part of the MED Festival. In this particular space, you can explore gastronomy and crafts, attend basket-weaving workshops, participate in dance sessions, and even discover traditional theater. July 5th marks the 50th anniversary of Cabo Verde's independence, and MED decided to celebrate this moment by highlighting the archipelago.
If there's one thing that has marked island life over the past few decades, it's music. Go to Mindelo, Santiago, or Fogo, for example, and it's everywhere. It sets the rhythm of the days, the movements of people, giving them meaning and substance. It doesn't replace the air we breathe, but almost. Fifty years ago, it was like that. Music played a fundamental role in the independence process, both before and especially in the years following 1975.
Political rallies, or public information sessions, often featured live performances by iconic groups of the time. It was also common for these sessions to end in dance parties. Music served as both a unifying force and a transmission mechanism for political ideas. Most of the time, not explicitly or explicitly, this political fire was there. Historic bands, still active today, such as Os Tubarões, Ferro Gaita, or Bulimundo, participated in these dynamics.
Two of them, Os Tubarões – with Dino d'Santiago – and Ferro Gaita, will be in Loulé. This is no coincidence. So many years later, what they always broadcast is more relevant than ever. New generations, in Cape Verde, Portugal, or the diaspora, pay homage to them, citing them as an influence. In Portugal, from Dino to Fogo Fogo, from Scúru Fitchádu to Fidju Kitxora, the examples are numerous. But because the reality of Cape Verdean music is rich and diverse – morna, coladeira, funaná, batuque, waltz, kutchi pó, and other genres – there will naturally be many other things to listen to. This Wednesday, the reception day, the first moment already took place.
It was the voice of Ceuzany, a Cape Verdean of Senegalese origin, that made itself heard, accompanied by her band, entering energetically, volcanically, with coladeiras, to intertwine this vigorous initial swing with mornas and calmer moments. But, of course, the festival, like the guest country, is an archipelago of music, stages, and winding streets, so there will be much more to discover with Vieux Farka Touré, Queen Omega, Congos, Sílvia Péres Cruz & Salvador Sobral, Carminho, A Garota Não, and many others. See you Sunday. This hasn't even started yet.
