Emanuel Miranda
Brava Island, 1973
Multi-instrumentalist

Ney Miranda, a musician who has lived in the United States since his adolescence, is one of the prominent figures in the Cabo Verdean musical community in Massachusetts.

Music was already a strong presence in his life while he was in Brava, as several members of his family played the violin. In an interview with the website Bravanews, he recalls that the first instrument he played, at around age six, was the cavaquinho: “I clearly remember going to a Carnival parade where there were many people singing and dancing. There were also musicians playing, and I was mesmerized watching the cavaquinho. When I got home, I picked up my cavaquinho and simply started playing, out of nowhere…”

At age 14, he was playing at church. One day, according to him, a cousin took him to a concert by his band, Cabo Verde 77. At one point, his cousin called him onto the stage. Being so young and holding a guitar that was larger than he was, he immediately caught the audience’s attention. Many people came over and began giving him money, he recalls.

“I think that night I went home with about $300 or $400. In the 1980s, that was a lot of money, especially for someone my age.” It was his first performance on a large stage.

In the early 1990s, at the invitation of Biús, he joined Jamm Band. He also performed with the group Os Troubadours, alongside cousins and siblings, as well as with Kola Band.

He traveled to Cabo Verde with Os Pecos Band and, with the Mendes Brothers, performed in Portugal and traveled throughout several African countries. By that time, he was already playing bass. He began receiving invitations to accompany artists in the studio, including Bana, Tito Paris, Mirri Lobo, and Grace Évora, among others—a role he has continued to perform ever since.

In 2025, Ney Miranda announced that he was working on his own album, which he described as a fusion of jazz and Cabo Verdean music.

Learn more

Interview with Bravanews

Watch and listen