Music is central to daily life in Cape Verde, where musicians are common and traditional morna blends African and Portuguese influences. In Praia, singers perform morna ballads from restaurants, while older men strum guitars in neighborhood streets. Cesaria Evora, a widely revered morna singer, is honored on the 2,000 escudo note. Many musicians hold other jobs, including journalist Julio Rodrigues, who also plays guitar. Each April, Praia hosts major international events, the Atlantic Music Expo and the Kriol Jazz Festival, filling the streets with samba, morna, and jazz. Cape Verde also received recognition as African Capital of Culture in 2028 and celebrated its national team’s first World Cup qualification.
"Cape Verde feels like a country where there are more musicians per capita than most anywhere else. Music is interwoven with the sounds of daily life in this West African island nation. In the heart of the capital Praia, a city of under 200,000 residents, singers belt out morna ballads from restaurants morna being Cape Verde's traditional music, with African and Portuguese influences. In the capital's outlying neighborhoods, older men are often sitting on sidewalks and strumming their guitars."
"The government even put the face of the country's most revered musician and singer Cesaria Evora, who popularized morna internationally in the 1990s on the country's currency (the 2,000 escudo note). Many of the musicians here have other jobs. The journalist Julio Rodrigues, who I hired to help me report a soccer story ahead of the World Cup, is also a guitar player."
"Every April, Cape Verde's musical identity reaches its apex, when Praia hosts two international events the Atlantic Music Expo and the Kriol Jazz Festival. Last month, as a steady, pre-rainy season wind whipped off the Atlantic Ocean, the sounds of samba, morna and jazz filled the streets. I took this photo of Cape Verdean singer Ineida Moniz in performance at the Atlantic Music Expo."
"A few weeks after the concerts wrapped, Cape Verde received good news about a special form of recognition: It will be the African Capital of Culture in 2028. But for now, the country's great excitement is about sports. For the first time, Cape Verde's national team the second smallest nation by population ever to qualify has reached the World Cup."
Read at www.npr.org
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