Each Wednesday, The World Africa presents three new musical releases from or inspired by the continent. To start the year, head to Cape Verde with Carmen Souza, Mario Lucio, Ceuzany Pires and… Christophe Maé.
« Kuadru Pintadu », by Carmen Souza
Do you know the « cachupa » ? It is a kind of stew made with corn, dried beans and your choice of meat or fish, considered the national dish of Cape Verde. A tasty mixture to which Carmen Souza does not hesitate to compare herself in the piece Quadru Pintadu, ode to interbreeding and the mixture of cultures from his tenth album, Interconnectedness, released in early December. Born in Lisbon to Cape Verdean parents and living in London, the 41-year-old jazz singer, associated with her accomplice for twenty years, bassist Theo Pas’cal, recounts in this opus the experience of separation lived during the Covid-19 pandemic and his realization that all of humanity is closely connected.
« Migrants (Shakespearience) », de Mario Lucio
This interdependence is also the observation made by Mario Lucio, whose new album with a particularly poignant eponymous clip is entitled Migrants. Released in mid-November, this tenth disc (counting the four recorded with the Simentera group between 1992 and 2003) “carries all of Cape Verde and Africa, but dialogues with all the musical aesthetics that migrations have made possible”, says the 58-year-old musician, poet and writer from Tarrafal, on the island of Santiago. For the first time, the one who was Minister of Culture from 2012 to 2016 entrusted the arrangements to a European, in this case the Portuguese Rui Ferreira, bringing new sounds to the music of the archipelago.
“Wonderland”, by Christophe Maé & Ceuzany
We end this selection with another song placed under the sign of the meeting, in this case that of the Frenchman Christophe Maé and the Cape Verdean Ceuzany. Inspired by a stay of the singer on the lands of Cesaria Evora, this single released at the end of November and entitled Wonderland announces a new album planned for the spring and tells, as its title suggests, the beauty of ” little country “. The opportunity to discover the enchanting voice of Ceuzany Pires, which lovers of morna and coladeira have already been able to hear within the cult group Cordas do Sol, originating from the island of Santo Antao. Wonderland covers part of their piece Morning Joana, from the album Lume d’Lenha (2009).
Find all the editorial staff’s musical favorites in the YouTube playlist of the World Africa.