Jack Pina

Joaquim de Pina  Fajã d’Água, Brava, 1950s  Singer, songwriter, producer, businessman  Romantic singer, but with an eclectic repertoire where there’s room for the various Cape Verdean rhythms, from morna to funaná, including koladera, and even space for zouk at times and Brazilian music, of which he is an admirer.  He Read more…

Gardénia Benrós 

Praia, Santiago, 1960s  Singer, songwriter  Gardénia Benrós brings together in her work the different musical influences received throughout a journey in which at the age of 16, she found herself in the USA singing in a group composed by young Cape Verdeans, the Tropical Power. From the age 3 to Read more…

João Cirilo

João Cirilo Pereira Monteiro  Polon de Engenho, Santa Catarina, Santiago, 1954  Singer, songwriter, instrumentalist (harmonica, guitar)  Although João Cirilo is always associated with funaná, mornas, koladeras, reggae, and other rhythms are also part of his repertoire, depending on the times. His first album is Ilusão dess mundo, from 1978, accompanied Read more…

Tazinho

Protásio Fortes Brito  Povoação Velha, Boa Vista, 1932  Guitarrist, songwriter, violinist with discography produced since the 1960s between Holland, Portugal and the United States. Tazinho has in his repertoire original compositions in different genres, like bolero, waltz and koladeras, besides well-known themes from the Cape Verdean singer.   Fado and a Read more…

Frank de Pina

Francisco de Pina  Santana, Brava, 1955  Instrumentalist (drums), singer, songwriter  Born on the island of Brava, Frank de Pina spent his childhood in the city of Praia, where he lived from the age of 6 to 18. As a teenager, he participated as a drummer in the group Os Vulcânicos. Read more…

José Silva

José António Barbosa Silva   Praia, Santiago, 1950 – USA, 2019  Singer, songwriter  Living in the USA since 1975, where he owned a construction company, José Silva released the album Subi montanha, with production and arrangements by Ramiro Mendes, who plays several instruments, as well as Zunga Pinheiro.  In 1985, as Read more…

Ecos de Cabo Verde 

Group – 1970s – (?)  Ecos de Cabo Verde was formed in Brockton, and in its first phase included the keyboardist from Mindelo, Tony Óscar (keys and vocals, ex- Voz de Cabo Verde and ex-Matchona), Manuel Andrade “Mané Criola” (vocals) and Inocêncio do Canto “Duchy” (solo guitar), both from Fogo, Read more…

Djo d’Eloy

Jose Alberto Rodrigues Silva  Mindelo, São Vicente, 1953 – New Bedford, USA, 2005   Songwriter, singer   Djô d’Eloy grew up in a musical family (nephew of Eddy Moreno and Djuta Silva) and this is how his cousin Val Xalino remembers certain family nights: “My father Armando on the guitar, his mother Read more…

Djosinha

José Vieira Duarte   Mindelo, São Vicente, 1934  Singer  Vocalist of Voz de Cabo Verde between the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s, Djosinha was always characterized, in this group and as a solo artist, by the versality of his repertoire – filled with sambas, samba-songs, cumbias and Read more…

Tune Weavers, The

Group, 1956  Familiar group formed in Boston by descendants of Cape Verdeans, The Tune Weavers achieve great success with the song “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby”, released in 1957, at the height at the doo-wop period (a style of vocal music based on R&B that emerged among the North American black Read more…