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Funaná Superstar
It’s never too late, says the rediscovered 78 year old star of Cape Verde’s too-wild dance music. Bas Springer meets the man they couldn’t ban.
ape Verdean music is mostly associated with slow, emotive sonorous morna ballads, made popular worldwide by the late Cesária Évora. But the archipela- go has another fascinating music style which is much lesser known: funaná. When the Cape Verdean islands were still a Portuguese colony this upbeat accordeon-based style, developed by descendants of African slaves on the island Santiago, was banned for being ‘too wild’ and ‘too African’. It was not until after Cape Verde’s independence in 1975 that funaná began to spread. In 1998, the now 78-year old funaná legend and accordeon player Bitori recorded a classic album, which was recently re-released and was the starting point of his remarkable comeback and first European tour.
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In colonial days the morna had a presti- gious and noble image while funaná was considered by the Portuguese rulers, includ- ing the Catholic church, as ‘too primitive’ and as ‘music of uneducated peasants’. Con- sequently funaná performances were for- bidden for many years in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde and could only be heard in the countryside, mostly after working hours.
The high-tempo dance rhythms of the funaná gave Cape Verdeans space to express their frustrations, worries and sor- rows but also their happiness and hope for a better future. Originally the diatonic accordeon was accompanied by just a ferro or ferrinho (metal scraper), producing fast rhythms with a very strong West African imprint. Texts were often about everyday life and special events, laced with double entendres and illusions.
ning of the 20th Century, in order to teach Portuguese musical genres to the Cape Verdeans. Whether or not it is true there are certain striking resemblances in the way the accordeon and the ferrinho in the funaná are used and that of the accordeon and the triangle in certain Por- tuguese folk music genres such as malhão, corridinho and vira.
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Other sources attribute the origin of the funaná to an increase in the importa- tion of accordeons as a cheap substitute for organs to play religious music. And then there is the theory that funaná was import- ed at the beginning of the 20th Century
here are several theories about the origin of funaná. According to one the accordeon was sup- posedly introduced on the island of Santiago at the begin-
Photo: Jose Sergio
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