Windows and Mirrors Listening Post 365. Lucibela’s soft and lovely voice calms as it penetrates the din of club, street or civilization. On her second album she presents stories that illuminate Cape Verde, her archipelago homeland, and distant shores as well. Amdjer...
Life, Love & Clouds Listening Post 312. Elida Almeda’s fourth album is a story of Cape Verde, a portrait of the generation of artists following in the footsteps of the great diva Cesária Évora, and the saga of one singer-songwriter, raised by a single mother in a...
An Ocean of a Neighborhood Listening Post 185. The subtitle of Catarina dos Santos’ second album is “Reflections on Portuguese Identity,” a subject as big as the ocean that touches Portugal, Africa and Brazil and as small as the working-class town where she grew up....
Making Waves Listening Post 172. It’s easy to exaggerate a kindred connection between two people from the same city, even if they were born 150 years apart. But consider: Jules Verne, who grew up in Nantes, certainly knew that nature can send a wave thousands of miles...
Lift and Gravity Listening Post 158. Feather light arrangements carry Lucibela and her low, soft-power voice like a princess in an open litter, high enough off the ground so her countrymen can see how effortlessly she floats, near enough to hear her singing their...
Art Dancing With Life Listening Post 129. Elida Almeida describes her second album as an x-ray of Cape Verde, stories that look beneath the surface of hope and disillusion. At 24, she is a consummate singer-songwriter, blending her island homeland’s hallmark...
Bridge to Distant Islands Listening Post 90. We think of islands as isolated places, but Cape Verde, the archipelago off Africa’s west coast, has enough tourists and more than enough expatriates to ensure constant traffic and ample opportunity for its prodigiously...
Bringing It All Back Home Listening Post 81. The singer-songwriter Bonga Kuenda is as relevant to Angola’s culture today as he was when his country broke free from Portugal in 1975—remarkable considering he spent most of the intervening years in exile. A thorn in the...
Tracks to an Island Home Listening Post 63. Cape Verde has a diverse musical palette, but the international renown of the late Cesária Évora skewed the island nation’s reputation toward the melancholy morna style. Lura idolized Évora, with whom she performed, but she...
