| Date & Hour: , Friday 2nd May, 10.30pm |
| Price: €12 Tickets will be sold on the door |
| Line Up: Carmen Souza (vocals & guitar); Theo Pas'cal (bass); Victor Zamora (piano); and Paulo Rosa Martins (drums & percussion) |
The Cape Verde islands, situated around 300 miles of West Africa's Senegalese coast has a rich and powerful musical tradition.
Unoccupied, until they were colonised by the Portuguese, who brought with them slaves from West Africa in 1462, the music of Cape Verde is often sensually languid and rhythmically complex - a reflection of it's origins in the islands mixed cultural heritage.
Acoustic strings, rousing horns, propulsive drumming, flamboyant keyboards, and superb vocal singing are strong components of classical Cape Verdean performance, and Carmen Souza, who announced her arrival on the international scene with an acclaimed concert appearance at London's Womad Festival two years ago, is an exceptional ambassador for the islands music.
She started singing in church at the age of 14 and later joined the professional Lusophone Afro-Gospel choir. Recently Souza worked with composer and producer Theo Pas'cal to record 'Ess Ê Nha Cabo Verde' - a fine showcase of her unique take on the Creole traditions of Cape Verde.
This is the music of longing buoyed up on a gentle swell of guitars, rhythm and voice.
Described by the BBC as 'a celebration, inspiring, poignant and uplifting', since then the Cape Verdean singer has released her second album 'Verdade', and has performed across the UK, in Canada, and South Korea.
"Cape Verdean musical riches abound ............ distinctive fusion of classic, lilting Cape Verdean musical forms and Jazz."Five Best Gigs to see in London - Tim Cumming, THE INDEPENDENT (Feb 2008)
"The concert was pure bliss. I found myself adrift in a sea of beautiful rhythms, fantastic melodies" - Derek Johnson, The Musicist. |
