INTRODUCTION
It has been said that music is a universal language. Yet one would be hard-pressed to find the connection between, say, Congolese
soukous and Korean
sanjo, or between a Javanese gamelan orchestra and a Cuban rumba band. Nevertheless there are threads of similarity throughout many of the popular musical idioms of the world.
Western pop, rock, and jazz have had a profound influence on traditional musical genres of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe over the past 50 years. At the same time, musical instruments, rhythms, and melodic systems from other cultures have become increasingly common in Western popular music. Much of this cross-fertilization has inevitably led to a bland, homogenized type of popular music that is sometimes erroneously referred to as "world music."
Yet there are examples of cross-cultural synthesis that have had a profound effect on popular music around the world. The African continent has been not only a rich source of material for Western composers and musicians, but has given birth to its own potent and highly varied genre. The infectious rhythms and undulating guitar licks of Afro-pop have revitalized popular music throughout the world. Similarly, the Iberian peninsula has brought new energy to the world-music stage. Of particular importance has been the music of Portugal and the Portuguese diaspora. The Atlantic islands of Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa have proved particularly rich in bringing us new sounds, new rhythms, and new voices. Ever since Cesária Évora hit the international stage in the early 1990s, a plethora of young singers has come from these islands and placed Cape Verdean music squarely on the world-music map.
Cape Verdean music reflects the African-European mix of its population. It is a blend of European waltzes and contra dances with rhythms from Africa, Brazil, and the Caribbean. While Cesária is best known for her renditions of traditional
mornas—songs of sadness, sorrow, and yearning that are akin to
fado—there are a number of other traditional song and dance forms that are more African in their rhythmic complexity. Such are the
coladeira—a lively, often humorous or satirical song—and the accordion-led
funana, both of which are very popular dance forms associated with highly erotic movement. More recently, Cape Verdean artists have been drawing on funky Afro-pop and Brazilian rhythms, creating new forms that draw on a variety of outside sources. It should be noted that while the Cape Verdean community numbers more than one million, less than one-third live on the islands. The remainder are scattered throughout the US, Portugal, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, most forced to emigrate due to the harshness of life on the islands and lack of employment opportunities.
While her parents were both born in Cape Verde, Sara Tavares did not grow up on the islands, but instead in the burgeoning African community of Lisbon. Thus from the start she took a more cosmopolitan route than some of her compatriots. Her music draws on her life experience, ranging from her early attraction to soul and gospel, through a return to her Cape Verdean roots and the African rhythms of the Afro-Portuguese diaspora. Sara’s most recent repertoire is more introspective; while maintaining irresistible dance rhythms, her songs are light and airy, often injected with philosophical subtexts. Themes of love, passion, and inner conflict are juxtaposed with intricate guitar licks and funky rhythms.
—Robert H. Browning, World Music Institute