folk holidays

SONGWRITER FROM CAPE VERDE AND STAR PIANIST FROM CUBA

THE RETURN OF A WONDERFUL SINGER-SONGWRITER FROM CAPE VERDE

There is one unfortunate thing about the wonderful Cape Verdean singer-songwriter: he can disappear from the scene for too long, almost risking you forgetting him, though of course it's quite impossible. You'll never get his honeyed tenor voice and guitar skills based on traditional rhythms out of your head, and you'll soon start to miss him. He did fill his eight-year studio hiatus, which was long enough even for him, with concerts, but who wouldn't want to hear new songs from him. He only released them this January on the album Spera Mundo and they are so authentically felt again that you will forgive him for the hiatus immediately. He's always said he couldn't live anywhere else but Cape Verde, and that's why this time he's not hiding his concern about climate change and the destruction of nature on the islands. In Creole he sings of volcanoes, rocks and the sea, the source of life hope for a better future for Cape Verdeans. But he also reflects on the state of the world today. This is matched by Tchek's even closer connection to perhaps all Cape Verdean traditional styles, which he intersperses with the nervous jazz of a trio led by French pianist Etienne Manchon.

He will be replaced by a truly great international star: the Cuban virtuoso Rolando Luna, who accompanied the singer Omara Portuondo for many years, was a regular member of the legendary Buena Vista Social Club and the Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf. Not much is known about him in our country, but abroad Luna is tearing up venues with his super-genre combination of Cuban styles and modern jazz and garnering nothing but praise. And the first thing you read about him is that only he can play such trans-genre music with the elegance of a master. He and Tcheke rarely perform, but when they do, it is always a great experience.