CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Mayra Andrade

Zankel Hall
Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 10:00 PM

Mayra Andrade

Rising star Mayra Andrade blends the indigenous Cape Verdean culture of her parents, including African-based batuku and funana rhythms, with Brazilian music, jazz and French chanson. Her acclaimed 2007 debut recording Navega has captivated critics and audiences, and she has recently been nominated for best newcomer in the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards. This program marks her US solo concert debut.

Program Notes:

CAPE VERDEAN MUSIC

Cape Verdean music has gained quite a high profile in the past decade, through the success of Cesaria Evora, the unlikely “barefoot diva.” Evora sings the bluesy songs known as morna, one of a number of styles unique to her island archipelago home.

The Republic of Cape Verde is a group of ten islands of volcanic origin, 600 kilometers off the coast of Senegal. An Atlantic world apart, Cape Verde is an ex-Portuguese colony; independent since 1975, it is not quite African, but scarcely European. Named after Cap-Vert, the peninsula of Dakar, this small country is anything but green—in fact, for ten months of the year, it is dry, dusty, and windy, essentially a maritime extension of the Sahel. Cape Verde is prone to catastrophic droughts, which, together with the islands’ isolation and lack of opportunities, have driven very large numbers to emigrate.

The islands were uninhabited when the Portuguese arrived and settled in 1462, but with the arrival of African slaves and sailors, they became quite racially mixed. The bulk of the modern population is composed of the descendants of African slaves; the everyday language is Kriolu—a Creole language which blends old-style Portuguese with West African languages. In the 500 years of its occupation, Portugal almost totally ignored the islands’ development. Thousands perished in famines, went to São Tomé as plantation workers, or emigrated overseas. Of a million people who call themselves Cape Verdean, only about one third actually live on the islands. The remainder are scattered throughout the US (mostly in New England); Europe (mainly Portugal, France, Italy, and the Netherlands); and Africa (Dakar). There is even a flourishing community in Cardiff, Wales; almost every Cape Verdean family has relatives overseas.

The islands’ music is colored by this history of separation and longing, the Creole culture, and the mix of Europeans and Africans. Cape Verdean music is influenced by both the waltz and the contre-dances of the old continent, and by rhythms from Africa, Brazil, and the Caribbean. There is a variety of unique styles, some of which have changed little over the centuries. Some, such as the morna, sound quite European, while West African elements are more to the fore in batuco and funana.

Music is an essential cultural expression of the life of Cape Verdean communities, an integral part of family and social celebration and popular festivals. Each island is proud to have its own music. As the island of Brava sees its men emigrate, the morna there is sad and slow; in Santiago, people dance as on the African continent, demonstrating their African roots; and in São Nicoloau, a very religious island, people sing above all both at funerals and for their saints.

The Morna
What tango is to Argentina, or fado to Portugal, the morna is to Cape Verde. This national song form—the most popular of the archipelago—is at least one-and-a-half centuries old, and is part of nearly every Cape Verdean band’s repertoire. It represents the soul of the people.

Hovering on the borderline between music and poetry, the morna is both a lyrical song (with a profoundly melancholic flavor) and a dance. Almost always written and sung in Kriolu, mornas are slow and have minor-key melodies. The lyrics are the heart of the matter, and can stand alone as a poetic form. They speak of love and longing for one’s distant cretchu (beloved), of the beauty of the archipelago, of departure and separation and sufferings in the new land, and of death. It is the music of sodade—an intense melancholy—of a people who want to stay on in their island home, yet must leave to survive.

As one of the oldest musical genres of the archipelago— it developed in early 19th-century dance halls—the morna’s origins are a subject of ongoing debate. Some theories purport that the genre was influenced by the Luso–Brasilian modinha, the Portuguese fado, or perhaps even African rhythms from Angola. The fado-modinha-morna triangle is so clearly drawn that it is obvious they are all interconnected.

Coladeira
At the more African end of the Cape Verdean musical spectrum is the coladeira, faster in tempo than the morna, less lyrically and melodically involved, but generally more rhythmically complex. The form probably derived from the morna, with some South American input, in the 1930s. Coladeiras are mainly songs of humor, joy, and sensuality, more whimsical (and sometimes satirical) than the morna, with a tight, sexy rhythm.

Funana
Closer still to African mainland roots is the funana, an accordion-led music and dance where the rhythm occupies a central position. Unlike the morna and coladeira typical of São Vicente, funana is mainly a rural art, typical of Santiago, the most African of the islands. It conveys a strong eroticism through exaggerated dance rhythms, though it can also be just as expressive as any morna. The words are often about special events in local everyday life or the past. Like Cape Verdean poetry, these texts are based on double entendres and allusions.

Again, the origins of this music are uncertain. It was perhaps imported from São Tomé, where a similar musical form is performed, along with the accordion at the beginning of the 20th century. Originally, the accordion was accompanied by just a metal scraper (ferro or ferrinho), and this traditional funana bears a very strong imprint of West African traditions, particularly in terms of rhythm and vocal technique.

Funana was, for a long time, looked down upon by both the church and colonial government. Exposed to the contempt and prohibitions because of is “primitivism,” the genre was forced underground until the nation’s independence. Since then, however, it has been incorporated, revitalized, and in some cases “modernized” by many of the pop bands of the islands in a movement similar to those in other African countries.

Batuco
The batuco is essentially women’s music from the Santiago countryside. Again considered an African legacy—there are similar forms on the mainland—it fulfils a ritual role. Traditionally, the genre accompanied the ceremonies of the tabanka (a processional festival dance), weddings, and christenings. Today, every festivity is a good occasion for batuco: women sing together for relaxation during a break, after work, or at a feast.

The batuco performance comprises songs that are nearly always improvisations, with verses satirizing or criticizing social and personal events. The tchabeta, the main part of the batuco, involves keeping time by clapping and beating a rolled-up cloth placed between the legs to form an acoustic box; the torno is a typical African dance involving the wriggling of the buttocks, simulating the sexual act; and the finaçon is the serious moment of the performance when everyone remains silent, and only the cantadeiras (women singers) are allowed to sing; in this moment, the women convey their particular message.

Excerpted from the essay “Cape Verde: Music of Sweet Sorrow,” by Susana Maximo and David Peterson, which appeared in The Rough Guide to World Music: Volume 1. For more information, visit roughguides.com.

More Information:

Please note that Mayra Andrade will appear instead of Lenine on this date, at a later start time, 10:00 PM. Tickets purchased for Lenine will be honored for this concert.

Any ticket holders with questions should call CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800.

Mayra Andrade
Mayra Andrade is a rising star in Cape Verdean music, a genre made famous throughout the world by Cesaria Evora. Born in 1985 in Cuba to Cape Verdean parents, she grew up in Senegal, Angola, Germany, and Cape Verde, and has lived in Paris since 2003. At the age of 17, Andrade took up vocal training in Paris after winning the Gold Medal at the Jeux de Francophonie singing competition in Canada. She has performed in Praia and Mindelo in Cape Verde, as well as various European cities including Paris, Lisbon, and London (the Purcell Room and the Barbican). Andrade has opened for Cesaria Evora and Angelique Kidjo, and recorded with Charles Aznavour, Lenine, and Chico Buarque. In 2007, her critically acclaimed debut recording Navega (“Upon the Waves”) was named one of the top albums of the year in the London Times; that same year Andrade received the prestigious Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Critics Award). She was recently nominated as best newcomer in the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards.

Andrade’s songs blend indigenous Cape Verdean styles, including African-based batuco and funana rhythms, with Brazilian music, jazz, and French chanson, and are sung primarily in Kriolu, the language of Cape Verde. Her repertoire features works by the late Orlando Pantera, a pioneer who modernized batuco rhythms, and young composers from Cape Verde, as well as her own compositions.

Tonight’s program marks Andrade’s US solo concert debut.

World Music Institute (WMI) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the presentation and documentation of traditional and contemporary music and dance from around the world. Since its founding in 1985, WMI has built the most comprehensive concert series of music and dance in the United States. Recognized as North America’s premier presenter of traditional world music and dance, WMI has presented more than 1,100 ensembles and soloists from over 100 countries and ethnic minorities. In addition to its concert series in New York, WMI organizes several national tours each year, produces recordings, and maintains an extensive catalogue of recordings, videos, and books of traditional music available at our office or online at worldmusicinstitute.org.