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Simentera
Simentera: Cabo Verde en Serenata (Piranha)
$17.99
The record label says:
A fresh and resolute breeze is blowing from Cabo Verde, the archipelago off the West Coast of Africa. Digging deep down to their own roots, Simentera present a music of incomparable soul stirring depth and rhythmic verve. The delicacy of the acoustic instrumentation, airy voices and the outward-looking song writing revitalize Cape Verde's mornas, coladera and funanás to quote only a few of the islands' musical expressions. However, Simentera have carefully kept the melodic poetry and the languorous rhythms so typical of Cabo Verde, once sad like all the sadnesses of this world and as happy as the radiant sun, full of love and suffering, and naturally of "sodade", that bitter-sweet mixture of memory and hope. With their album Cabo Verde en Serenata the group have given birth to a music which lends a voice to the earth, the sea and the wind, a music which evokes the mysterious light that spreads across the sky when the rains finally come, a grace that simply delights all over again.
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Listen to "Guerra Fria"
Real Audio Sample
MP3 (full song)
The musicians:
Tété Alhinho - vocal, contralto, percussion
Terezinha Araújo - Lead vocal, soprano,percussion
Maria de Sousa - Lead vocal, soprano, percussion
Elisio Faria Djembé - congas, agogó, pau-de-chuva
Nicolas Soares - Lead vocal, tenor, 6 strings guitar, tamborim
Pepey Bettencourt - Back vocal, 12 and 10 strings guitar, chequere
Kim Bettencourt - Lead vocal, tenor, cavaquinho (ukelelé)
Carlos Gomes - Back vocal, sax tenor and soprano, percussion
Mario Lucio Sousa - Lead and back vocal, 6 strings guitar, slide guitar,contraguitar acoustic, diatonic accordeon, harmonica and percussion.
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"What makes this band so endearing is its blend of solid songwriting, musical competence and sincerity. This third element, sincerity, is possibly the most elusive, yet telling criteria. Rather than abandon their roots (they all live and work at different jobs on Cape Verde), they re-explore and re-define them, coming up with a sound that reflects the love they have for their culture and their hope for its future. This is all captured here" - RootsWorld "Simentera have been instrumental in rediscovering the country's musical history. They cultivate the traditional forms, playing only acoustic instruments and presenting polyphonic compositions." - Gateway Of Africa "Simentera's morna songs are "suffers' music" in the Jamaican sense - and they convey the same sense of beauty and longing. Sys band leader Mario Lucio Sousa: "We are melancholic, but it is a happy melancholy. We sing with our souls, but our singing is not sad. If it invites you to cry, then it means crying for beauty." - Ljudmilla |
About the band:
Simentera's leader, Mário Lúcio de Sousa, first picked up a guitar in an army barrack as an eleven year-old soldier. Since then it has rarely left his side. For most of the past decade, de Sousa and Simentera - a word that refers to the time of year for planting seeds - have been revitalizing their country's music.
While most groups from Cape Verde play old compositions with electronic instruments, Simentera composes new pieces for acoustic instruments and to highlight their breathtaking voices. A local newspaper dubbed them as "The new face of the other Cape Verdean music and the other face of the new Cape Verdean music."
"If we don't modernize our music we will end up with a museum-piece in the same way as has already happened in many places around the world, "says de Sousa. "A music which has an ethnographic value and thus ceases to be the expression of a popular feeling."
Members of Simentera come from many walks of life. Not only are they accomplished musicians, they also work in a variety of professions including law, architecture, engineering, medicine, and others. They are one of the few Cape Verdean groups committed to living in their country forever. This may sound like an odd distinction, but the forces they are up against are enormous.
Cape Verde was the last African nation to gain independence from European colonial powers - a factor that has contributed to enthusiasm in national identity. Simentera is dedicated to maintaining this newfound identity and has started a foundation for musical preservation. The Simentera Foundation aims to establish a cultural center, a music school for children, and a CD shop that will promote Cape Verdean artists.
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