Description:
With the Rough Guide to the Music of Cape Verde, we at last have an answer to the perennial question: what music do those rocky islands have besides that of Cesaria Evora? And if nobody's in her class, there are some very individual voices on display in this beguiling compilation. The styles employed are the African-derived funana, the percussion-based batuque which is primarily heard at weddings, and that quintessence of the Cape Verdean spirit, morna. Mornas are ballads, almost always expressing nostalgia, which go at a languid pace: a Lusophone answer to the American blues. They're often compared to Portuguese fado, but the t
With the Rough Guide to the Music of Cape Verde, we at last have an answer to the perennial question: what music do those rocky islands have besides that of Cesaria Evora? And if nobody's in her class, there are some very individual voices on display in this beguiling compilation. The styles employed are the African-derived funana, the percussion-based batuque which is primarily heard at weddings, and that quintessence of the Cape Verdean spirit, morna. Mornas are ballads, almost always expressing nostalgia, which go at a languid pace: a Lusophone answer to the American blues. They're often compared to Portuguese fado, but the two have relatively little in common apart from their dark harmonies, and their use of the delicately expressive 12-stringed Portuguese guitar. Where fadistas belt out their laments in tightly-structured bursts of feeling, the morna-singer tends to meander. Cesaria makes just one appearance here, singing her trademark song "Sodade", but it's a pleasure to encounter Maria Alice's delicate timbre, and Herminia's kittenish tones; the sweetly weathered voice of Bana and the operatic tenor of Djurumani are both great discoveries. All these singers were born around 1940; the younger performers on this album are somewhat smoother and internationalised. But it all adds up to a great 76 minutes. --Michael Church
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Manufacturer: World Music Network
Release date: 8 October 2001
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0605633106527 UPC: 605633106527
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