Morna
Gláucia Nogueira and Graham Douglas
Characterized by a melodious style, slow tempo, and 4/4 time, in most cases with sentimental lyrics, the morna sometimes seems close to the Portuguese fado, but its sound also recalls Brazilian samba-canção.
The poet, journalist and composer Eugénio Tavares (1867-1930) points out that the morna originally had a faster tempo and humorous and gossipy lyrics. The account in his compilation of lyrics, Mornas Cantigas Crioulas has been accepted over time as the foundation of a possible history of morna. In it, Tavares claims that the morna originated on the island of Boa Vista, where it was defined by irony and caricature and “did not embrace a sentimental line.” According to Tavares, morna “then moved to the other islands, adapting itself, and taking on the psychic features of each people.”
Tavares makes some comments about the morna on the islands of São Vicente, Santo Antão, and Fogo, claiming that the current style originated on his native island of Brava, “the land where men marry the sea”, referring to the large numbers who were involved in whale fishing or in the merchant marine at that time. Later, many of them transferred to land-based work, which was available in the US, but the poetic image remained strong for Tavares. These workers gave rise to the large Cape Verdean community that exists today in the New England region on the east coast of the USA, now in its 5th or 6th generation.
The morna, in his vision, “fixed her eyes on the sea and the blue expanse, and acquired this sentimental line, this harmonious sweetness”. It was thus supposedly the mornas from the island of Brava, (of which Tavares stands out as the main songwriter), that the morna as a whole assumed its current features. Saudade, in Portuguese, or sodade, in Cabo Verdean language [longing], is a keyword in talking about this material.
The musician and songwriter B. Léza (Francisco Xavier da Cruz, 1905-1958), published his own compilation, Uma Partícula da Lira Cabo-Verdiana (1933), which also included a preface in which he describes a serenade to the sound of guitars and violins playing mornas. He is also a central character in this musical genre, and introduced some influences from Brazilian guitar playing into his style of writing and performance.
Both Eugénio Tavares and B. Léza are revered figures in Cabo Verde: the former’s birthday, October 18, has been established as National Day of Culture, and December 3, B. Léza’s birthday, is National Morna Day, instituted as part of the application process for this musical genre to join the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage, which it did in December 2019.
The idea that the morna originated on the island of Boa Vista makes sense because during the late eighteenth- and early-nineteenth century, the island reached its economic peak from the export of salt. According to Antonio Germano Lima, frequent contact between the crews of Brazilian ships and the local population of Boa Vista facilitated cultural exchanges, such as the entry of the lundum, an Afro-Brazilian music and dance tradition. Vasco Martins, in his book Música Tradicional Cabo-Verdiana – I (A Morna) suggests for the genesis of this musical genre a link between the Portuguese-Brazilian modinha and the lundum.
Beginning in the mid nineteenth century, with the decline of salt production in Boa Vista, the island of São Vicente entered a period of economic dynamism of its own that was to last several decades. As steamships replaced sailboats, Porto Grande, in the bay of the city of Mindelo, became a central port of call as ships travelling between Europe and the Americas needed to resupply themselves with coal. British companies set up on the island to engage in this trade.
However, the history of the morna and even whether the term referred to a specific style of music are still rather uncertain. Throughout the nineteenth century, in various publications referring to musical practices, the word morna appears very few times and, when it does, it seems to refer to, at that time, any similar type of entertainment event or a dance.
In an 1876 report, Aleixo Justiniano Sócrates da Costa, a public official on Boa Vista, mentions that the inhabitants of that island are “crazy about dances and revelry, and even love their voluptuous batuques, and the rowdy and noisy mornas.” This passage seems to indicate that the morna was a type of dance, not at all like the slow and generally sentimental music that from the beginning of the 20th century is known as morna. However, it seems that it could have been characterized that way some fifty years before Tavares and B. Léza published their accounts.
The morna came to be seen by outsiders as a genuinely Caboverdean creation in the early twentieth century, a time when the archipelago’s elites appreciated European musical expressions like the waltz, mazurka, polka, and schottische. And as these styles were falling out of fashion or retreating to some isolated parts of Cabo Verde, the morna established itself as an icon of Caboverdean culture.
During the colonial period, morna was considered Cabo Verde’s only musical expression worthy of representing the islands in, for example, the colonial exhibitions held in Porto (1934) and Lisbon (1940), while other musical styles, associated with lower social strata and the rural world of Santiago and considered more “African,” were devalued. Currently, although other musical expressions have much more impact on the Cabo Verdeanpublic than morna, it is still considered, at least institutionally, the emblematic music of Cabo Verde.
The Portuguese colonial authorities promoted the image of Cabo Verde as more European than African, in contrast to the mainland colony of Guinea-Bissau, and elevated the morna as the most representative music of Cabo Verde in detriment to other expressions. However, during the liberation struggle it was a vehicle for political messaging, albeit camouflaged in characteristically sentimental language. Several militants and leaders of the liberation struggle were themselves songwriters of mornas, such as Abílio Duarte, Luís Fonseca, and Waldemar Lopes da Silva.
Notable composers of mornas, in addition to those already mentioned, include Jotamonte, Manuel d’Novas, Rodrigo Peres, Betú, among others. Among contemporary performers, Cesária Évora, Bana, Ildo Lobo, Titina, Celina Pereira, Gardénia Benrós and Nancy Vieira are singers who stand out. More recently, Cremilda Medina and Lucibela have initiated careers with repertoires based around the morna and other styles that are considered traditionally Cabo Verdean.