Humbertona

Published by GN on 01/16/202501/16/2025

Humberto Bettencourt dos Santos

Chã de Manuelim, Paul/Porto Novo, Santo Antão, 1940 – Mindelo, São Vicente, 2023

Instrumentalist (guitar)

Considered one of the leading guitar soloists in Cabo Verde, all of his solo recordings were produced between 1966 and 1971, when he was studiyng at the University of Louvain in Belgium and became involved in the activism in the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (PAIGC).

Before this, in 1964, he participated with the Marques da Silva brothers from Mindelo in the group Ritmos Cabo-Verdianos, the first band in Cabo Verde to use electric instruments. In 1966, the group traveled to Portugal to compete in a pop music contest. Humbertona did not return to Cabo Verde but instead went to Belgium, where he initially studied agronomy before eventually graduating in economics and management.

In that same year, in Rotterdam, he recorded enough material for his first two albums, which were released by Casa Silva/Morabeza Records, under the label of his cousin Djunga de Biluca: Lágrimas e Dor, released in 1967, and Morna ca so Dor, released in 1969. He went on to record four more LPs, in which guitar solos are almost always accompanied by covers featuring political charged texts. On the last one, Dispidida, an unsigned text speaks in Cape Verdean about hope for a new era: “Without subjugation, without misery, without distant lands, without suffering — then, in this new era that is arising, everyone sings and dances their mornas and koladeras.”.

Stora Stora, recorded with his cousin W aldemar Lopes da Silva and the Brazilian Marcelo Melo (who later founded Quinteto Violado in Recife), features both Brazilian and Cabo Verdean themes. The cover includes an excerpt from the poem “Os flagelados do vento leste”, by Ovídio Martins. In addition to a photograph of the two Cabo Verdean musicians, already associated with the struggle for Independence at the time, the cover became a reason for PIDE, the political police of the Salazar dictatorship, to ban its distribution in Cabo Verde – though the album itself was not banned. This rare LP also has another peculiarity: it is the only one in which Humbertona sings. Watch here Marcelo Melo’s statement about his musical connection with Humbertona.

Humbertona played on Bonga’s first albums (Angola 72 and Angola 74), on Mona Linda and La Violenta, by Luís Morais, and on Mar di Furna by Bana. He also contributed to two PAIGC albums recorded in Rotterdam and released in the former GDR: Poesia Cabo-Verdiana – Protesto e Luta (1970), in which, together with Waldemar, he provided the musical background, and Música Cabo-Verdiana – Protesto e Luta (1973).

Between the April 25th Revolution and the independence, back in Cabo Verde, he participated in the recording of a cassette featuring protest songs and poems, an initiative of the Grupo de Intervenção Artística (GIA). He also played in the group Nova Aurora. More recently, Humbertona was part of the guitar section of the Cabo Verde National Orchestra (ONCV).

After the Independence, he worked in the fisheries sector, first as financial diretor of the then nationalized Congel and later as national diretor of the sector. In 1982, he was appointed ambassador of Cabo Verde to the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, and the EEC. In 1987, he was appointed to the United Nations in New York, where he remained until 1991. After the defeat of the African Patry for the Independence of Cabo Verde (PAIGC) in the 1991 elections, he began working as a consultant for international organizations and founded a computer achool. In 2001, he assumed the role of presidente of Cabo Verde Telecom, where he remained for several years. Since his time in the Netehrlands, Humbertona served for many years as honorary consul of the Netherlands for the Leeward Islands.

Humbertona playing at a party in Praia, 2008 (photo: Gláucia Nogueira); right: in a rehearsal with the Orquestra Nacional de Cabo Verde, 2014 (photo: Francisco Fontes)

Discography

Morna ca so Dor, LP, Morabeza Records, Rotterdam, 1969. Accompaniment: Valdemar Lopes da Silva, Toy Ramos and Frank Cavaquinho.
Humbertona ma Chico Serra, Morabeza Records, Rotterdam, 1969. On CD: Morabeza Records, 1992.
Lágrimas e Dor – Mornas dedilhadas por Humbertona, LP, Morabeza Records, Rotterdam, 1969. Accompaniment: Valdemar Lopes da Silva, Toy Ramos and Frank Cavaquinho.
Dispidida, LP, MR, Rotterdam, 1972. Com Piúna; accompaniment: Agustin and Frank Cavaquinho.
Sodade – Rapsódias de mornas e coladeiras, LP, Morabeza Records, Rotterdam, 1973. With Toy Ramos.
Stora Stora, LP, Morabeza Records, Rotterdam, 1972. With Waldemar and Marcelo Melo.
Dispidida d’sodade, CD, Morabeza Records, Rotterdam, 1992 (compilation bringing together songs from the LPs Dispidida and Sodade, although the cover does not contain this information).