Cape Verde is an island archipelago located a few hundred miles off of the cost of Senegal.  Also known as Cabo Verde, the island is starting to get some attention, especially in parts of Europe, as a peaceful tourist location.  The music of this land is pretty unknown to much of the world, accept for those areas where there are large numbers of Cape Verdeans, such as the Northern United States, Netherlands, France, Senegal as well as Italy.

Many know of Cape Verde’s most famous singer, Cesaria Evora and her introduction of the country’s beloved music, Morna, to the rest of the world. There are a few other music forms from Cabo Verde that may be of interest to those wanting to broaden their musical horizons…

Morna is a national song style, sung in the Cape Verdean crioule, that tends to be varied in terms of lyrical subject matter. Here is an example of Cesaria Evora singing a typical Morna…

Funana is an accordion based musical genre that had its start on the island of Santiago Cape Verde.  This genre has recently been merged with that of Coladeira to form a musical form known as funacola.  Below is some Cape Verdean funana for your listening pleasure..

Batuko or Batuque music is a woman’s folk music popularized in Santiago Cape Verde. I talked about it and how similar it is to Samba de Roda of Bahia Brazil.  Here is another link to some interesting Batuko music and dance…