Cape Verdeans in the USA and their musical activities
Gláucia Nogueira *
Translated by Sandra St. Laurent
The written references regarding Cape Verdean migration to the United States go back to the 19th century, but it is supposed that the migration flux started in the 18th century. At the time, whalers operating in the Atlantic Ocean sought workers, and most of them were Cape Verdeans and Azoreans that seized the opportunity to work in the vessels, to settle down in the USA, originated the Azorean and Cape Verdean communities that still exist in the New England region (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island).
Later, with the turn of the century 19th to the 20th, Cape Verdeans filled the existing gap regarding labor in the textile industry and agriculture, leading to a constant flux of migrants to the region until 1924, when the government enacted laws that restrained immigration of people coming from non-European territories.
By the end of the 19th century, with the invention of the steamship and the decline of the whaling industry, the sailboats became obsolete and were sold at a low price, allowing some Cape Verdeans to buy vessels to then convert it to cargo and passenger ships. These ships start circulating regularly between Cape Verde and the ports of New Bedford in Massachusetts and Providence in Rhode Island.
From a musical point of view, this community composed mostly of people from the Islands of Brava and Fogo will go on to have a significant role.
It is in the context of an established community for over a century in New England that arise with some visibility several musical groups composed of Cape Verdeans and its descendants. Ron Barboza, in his work A Salute to the Cape Verdean Musicians and their music (1989), mentions these musical activities.
Cape Verdean Ultramarine Band Club was one of the pioneers. Emerged in New Bedford in 1917. Until then, the musical activities were simply informal and took place in a domestic environment. The groups that emerged were based on wind instruments and had a repertoire of military marches. Later, in 1930, the Skyliners Big Band became the dance music section of the Cape Verdean Ultramarine Band Club.
Other bands of this time are the B-29 Band; the Duke Oliver’s Orchestra; The Don Verdi Orchestra; and the Skyliners.
According to Barbara Masters, a researcher on Cape Verdean music in the US context, orchestras like Duke Oliver’s, The Don Verdi Orchestra, Skyliners and the Jimmy Lomba group were composed by young musicians that grew up in the United States and knew little about Cape Verde. They liked the American music that was popular at their time – Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, among others – and performed like the popular big bands that livened up the dance spaces. But there were also people that kept the practice of the archipelago traditional dance music, states the author.
According to Joli Gonsalves (a prominent figure in this field), the group Duke Oliver’s Creole Vagabonds (later Duke Oliver’s Orchestra) includes in their repertoire Cape Verdean themes with innovative performances and musical arrangements from Raymond “Ray” Lomba, Álvaro Duarte, among others. On his text published in A Salute to the Cape Verdean Musicians and their Music, the musician refers that after this period other groups started including Cape Verdean themes in their repertoire. This shows the integration of Cape Verdean descendants in the US musical universe and at the same time the recreation from their experience in the USA, of music brought from Cape Verde by their ancestors.
Masters refers that the dance music was by far the most important set of musical forms brought from the archipelago to the USA and affirms that the most played, besides mornas, were “the European music from the islands” (mazurka, waltz, contradance, polka, and schottische) and, later, the koladera.
The pioneers in the Cape Verdean discography
Between 1929 and 1935, three groups formed by Cape Verdeans made a set of 40 recordings in the Columbia Records studios in New York. These groups are Abrew’s Portuguese Instrumental Trio, Johnny Perry’s Portuguese Criolo Trio (also known as Johnny Perry’s Capeverdean Serenaders and John Perry’s Instrumental Trio), and the Orchestra de Notias. They were the first Cape-Verdeans to be present in the era of recorded music, and their gramophone records are now collector’s rarities. They recorded mornas, polkas, waltzes, and mazurkas.
The three groups above mentioned composed the Cape Verdean section of the Portuguese String Music compilation, organized by Richard Spottswood, that includes recordings of groups from Continental Portugal and Islands and Brazilians. These recordings reached Cape Verde. Certainly, in wealthier houses where they had a gramophone, these records were listened, but also those who did not have the equipment were able to hear it by gathering at the houses to listen to the new songs that arrived in imported records by merchants or by the hand of immigrants that went there on vacation. This shows that the groups and artists of the Cape Verdean community in the US had a key role in the introduction of musical expressions like polka, waltz, foxtrot, and other genres in the archipelago. Their role was also important in the introduction of mornas played under the influence of the eclectic and innovative musical universe that the immigrants were a part of in the US.
In the context of musical activities that took place during the 20th century in the Cape Verdean community in the Massachusetts region we can highlight the Vickie Vierra and Flash Tavares brothers. Flash Tavares is the father of the members of the Tavares Brothers group, who became famous worldwide in the late 1970s, during the heyday of disco music.
Beyond the community
Some Cape Verdean origin musicians residing in the USA became professionals and performed beyond the Cape Verdean community, connecting to the jazz universe or popular music; examples of this are Horace Silver (1928-2014), Paul Gonsalves (1920-1974), Paul Pena, Tavares Brothers, among others.
In fields such as classical music and education, Cape Verdean descendants are also represented; examples are the drummer Jackie Santos, professor at Berklee College of Music, and pianist Henry J. Santos (1927-2020), professor emeritus at Bridgewater State University.
Present
During the second half of the 20th century, especially after the independence of Cape Verde, a new flow of Cape Verdeans gather to the already existing community with some of their members being born in the US. This new flow is due to the uncertainty and fear of how the reality in the new country would be.
That is how names like Norberto Tavares, Quirino do Canto, Djosinha, Vuca Pinheiro, among others, arrived in the US and start producing their work in the 1970s. Groups like Tropical Power, Ecos de Cabo Verde and Matchona will appear in this context. Over time, a new generation of Cape Verdean descendants emerge – names like Candida Rose, Noah Andrade, Desire Fernandes – with a strong connection to their cultural roots. At the same time, the migration flow from Cape Verde to the US does not slow, bringing new artists. Kim Alves, Zerui de Pina, Duka, Calu di Guida, Assol Garcia are some examples. This group composes the current Cape Verdean musical community in the New England region, with some going back to their homeland and others arriving. The two-way flow between the US and Cape Verde does not stop.
Cape Verdean musicians in Hawaii
It is important to mention the presence of Cape Verdeans settled in Hawaii in the 19th century that engaged in musical activities that were reported by the local press. We are currently undergoing research to provide the history of Cape Verdeans in Hawaii soon in this platform.
Get to know
Cape Verdean community music personalities in the US (non-exhaustive list, being gradually updated)
First half of the 20th century: Abrew´s Portuguese Instrumental Trio; Al Lopes; Augusto Abreu; B-29s; Boboi di Tai; Cape Verdean Ultramarine Band Club; Don Verdi Orchestra; Duke Oliver’s Creole Vagabonds; Flash Tavares; Frank Monteiro; George Azevedo; Horace Silver; Jimmy Lomba; Joe Livramento; Johnny Perry´s Portuguese Criolo Trio; Joli Gonçalves; Orchestra de Notias; Paul Gonsalves; Phill Barboza; Skyliners Big Band; Vickie Vierra; Young Boboy.
Cape Verdean Descendants/From the second half of the 20th century: Alexio Barboza; Anika Noni Rose; Anna Lopes; Belinda; Candida Rose; Creole Sextet; Desiree Fernandes; Jackie Santos; Lisa Lopes; Michael “Tunes” Antunes; Margo Sylvia; Mark G.; Noah Andrade; Paul Pena; Tavares Brothers; The Tune Weavers, The Verdatones.
Cape Verdeans who settled in the US and groups that were formed: Afrika Rainbow; Amândio Cabral; Armando de Pina; Assa; Assol Garcia; Nho Balta; Nho Becha; Bela Mendes; Calú Bana; Calú d´Arquitecto; Calu di Guida; Carlos P. Mendes; Chachi Carvalho; Chandinho Dedé; CV Band; Dabeto Gonçalves; Dick d´Ano Nobo; Djédjé; Djedjinho; Djicai; Djim Djob; Djinho Barbosa; Djô d´Eloy; Djosinha; Djuta Barros; Djuta Duarte; Duducha; Ecos de Cabo Verde; Feel Bass; Fidjos Codé di Dona; Fil G; Frank de Pina; Fuca; Gardénia Benrós; Gau Salgado; Glanzer Ramos; Gutty Duarte; Ice Band; Ivo Pires; Jack Darosa; Jack Pina; Jamm Band; João Alfredo (Féfe); João Cerilo; João Lichinho; João Mendes; Jorge Gorila; Jorge Job; Jorge Sena; José Laço; José Silva; Kalú Monteiro; Keita; Kim Alves; Kola Band; Kreation; Lena Timas; Lil John; Linkim; Lutchinha; Matchona; Maria de Barros; Maria da Luz; Mário de Melo; Maruka Tavares; Mendes Brothers; Mo Green; Nando Lopes; Neves; Nhela Sax; Norberto Tavares; Oasis; Paley Spencer; Os Pecos Band; Pepe Bana; Pulonga´l Bita; Punga; Quirino do Canto; Ramiro Mendes; Roy Job; Rui Pina; Santos Spencer; Sãozinha; Tazinho; Tchuny Preta; Tony Marques da Silva; Tony Oscar; Totó Tavares; La Tour; Toy Pinto; Tropical Power; Tuká; Uprising; Vuca Pinheiro [E]; Wings (New Bedford); Zé di Monza; Zé Galvão; Zé Timas; Zerui Depina.
Get to know more
A Salute to the Cape Verdean Musicians and Their Music, by Ron Barboza, 1989.
Watch and listen
References:
Barboza, Ronald (1989). A Salute to the Cape Verdean Musicians and their Music.
New Bedford: Documentation and Computerization of the Cape Verdeans. Masters, Barbara (1989), “Brief History of Cape Verdean Music in New Bedford”. In Ronald Barboza, A Salute to the Cape Verdean Musicians...
Gonsalves, John Gonsalves, John (1989).
“Trends in Cape Verdean music”. In Ronald Barboza, A Salute to the Cape Verdean Musicians…
Nogueira, Gláucia (2016). Cabo Verde & a Música – Dicionário de Personagens. Lisbon: Campo da Comunicação.
Nogueira, Gláucia (2020). Músicas e Danças Europeias do século XIX em Cabo Verde. Percurso de uma Apropriação. Doctoral thesis, University of Coimbra.
Spottswood, Richard K. (1990).
Ethnic music on records: A discography of ethnic recordings produced in the United States, 1893 to 1942 (Vol. 4). Urbana, Chicago: Univertity of Illinois Press.
* Adaptation of a chapter from the thesis Músicas e Danças Europeias do século XIX em Cabo Verde. Percurso de uma Apropriação (2020).