Maria de Barros
Maria de Barros’ music transcends taste, preference and even language. It travels through countries dense with culture, picking up pieces of each along the way, combining distinct inflections of Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, France and Spain, while allowing the tradition and culture of Cape Verde to permeate. Melodies melt off her tongue with the same richness and maturity of a contemporary Cape Verde club singing Ella Fitzgerald, except that this songstress’s club is bursting with a taste of Latin spice, serving Portuguese and African cuisine with dancers to match and audiences swinging their hips to Maria’s sensual Morna and Coladeira beats.
Her new album, Morabeza: “A simple and sublime expression that characterizes the soul of a people; it is solidarity in times of misfortune; it is kindness, tenderness, hospitality, sympathy and friendship”, is an eclectic blend of sounds with songs alternating in tempo, beat and style, making for an exciting tantalisation of the ear drums.
Maria invites you into her heart with the warmth of a close friend. Her album, aptly titled, epitomizes what she chooses to express: the tradition and beauty of the people and the landscape. Her music defines a much-needed optimism in the face of suffering and hardship in Africa. Although Maria was born in Dakar, Senegal and grew up in Nouackchott, Mauritania, her creative heart lies in the culturally rich Islands of Cape Verde, the birthplace of her parents.
Maria de Barros
Maria de Barros’ music transcends taste, preference and even language. It travels through countries dense with culture, picking up pieces of each along the way, combining distinct inflections of Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, France and Spain, while allowing the tradition and culture of Cape Verde to permeate. Melodies melt off her tongue with the same richness and maturity of a contemporary Cape Verde club singing Ella Fitzgerald, except that this songstress’s club is bursting with a taste of Latin spice, serving Portuguese and African cuisine with dancers to match and audiences swinging their hips to Maria’s sensual Morna and Coladeira beats.
Her new album, Morabeza: “A simple and sublime expression that characterizes the soul of a people; it is solidarity in times of misfortune; it is kindness, tenderness, hospitality, sympathy and friendship”, is an eclectic blend of sounds with songs alternating in tempo, beat and style, making for an exciting tantalisation of the ear drums.
Maria invites you into her heart with the warmth of a close friend. Her album, aptly titled, epitomizes what she chooses to express: the tradition and beauty of the people and the landscape. Her music defines a much-needed optimism in the face of suffering and hardship in Africa. Although Maria was born in Dakar, Senegal and grew up in Nouackchott, Mauritania, her creative heart lies in the culturally rich Islands of Cape Verde, the birthplace of her parents.
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