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till, it was not until the late 1990s that traditional funaná was recorded. A young singer from the Cape Verdean vil- lage of Tarafal on Santiago, Fernando Amarante Dias, better known as Chando Graciosa, felt drawn to Bitori’s raw passionate sound and honest lyrics reflecting the harsh reality of the working class. He approached Bitori to join forces and spread funaná beyond its rural roots, subsequently trav- elling and performing overseas. Chando Graciosa settled down in Rotterdam and invited Bitori to record an album in the Nether- lands. In 1997, the time was ripe to immortalise the sound Bitori had shaped over the years.
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Bitori: “For me it was a great victory because I had never been in a studio before. The very idea that this session was recorded for an album made me extremely proud.”
The album Bitori Nha Bibinha was built around an extremely tight rhythm section, consisting of drummer Grace Evora and bass player Danilo Tavares plus Portuguese Creole vocals from Chando Graciosa. This legendary recording catapulted Graciosa to stardom, making him Cape Verde’s number one interpreter of funaná. The success in Cape Verde was phenomenal, and funaná rapidly gained recognition on the island.
One of the producers of the album was bass player Danilo
Tavares. He recalls that “I was impressed how easily Bitori, not used to studios, found his way in this new territory. We didn’t practise but as soon as the rehearsals started there was a click. One of the suc- cesses of the album was the purity of Bitori and Chando. We didn’t plan anything and everything was recorded spontaneously in four or five days. For us it was not a magical moment, it was just another recording. It was only later we realised how unique the album was. It was a huge success among Cape Verdeans but outside the Cape Verdean community nobody paid attention to the album.”
Singer Chando Graciosa, who started his singing career at the age of fifteen, was responsible for a great part of the arrangements on the album. “I already knew Bitori from Cape Verde. He was living in Praia, in a house next to our rehearsal room. Every time I was pass- ing by his house I was attracted by his accordeon playing. In those days I promised him ‘When you come to Europe, we’re gonna make an album’. I composed most of the songs on the album, in harmony with Bitori. I also wrote part of the lyrics which are about our cul- ture, our society, the things we have seen, our forefathers, our food, poverty. In funaná we can manifest our freedom, that’s why we play and dance with so much passion.”
Danilo: “The rhythm of funaná is quite aggressive. This has to do with the fact that funaná was forbidden for a long time. In funaná we finally had the chance to express our frustration, anger and joy. That’s why funaná concerts in Cape Verde can last four or five hours because the musicians have a lot to tell. In the beginning of our tour Bitori had to get used to the fact that concerts in Europe only last a maximum of one and half hours. After a show he once said ‘How come we’re stopping, we just got started?’”
After recording Bitori Nha Bibinha, Bitori went back to Cape
Verde, where he enjoyed local fame at parties. However he never received the international attention he had hoped for. Now in his late 70s, recognition has come at last. In recent years collectors of old African vinyl paid considerable sums of money for this lost classic at record fairs and on auction sites. For Bitori it was a glorious moment when Samy Ben Redjeb, founder of the fantastic reissue label Analog Africa, took the initiative to reissue the album and to make Bitori’s first European tour possible. For the past year Bitori and his musicians have been touring constantly, bringing them to such festivals as Festi- val Músicas do Mundo in Sines (Portugal) and Lowlands (Netherlands).
Bitori says about his amazing comeback “I really enjoy the comeback and the touring. I meet a lot of old friends and new peo- ple. To be honest, I had expected that somebody would discover me much earlier but it doesn’t matter any more. It’s never too late. It’s wonderful to see how a young audience in Europe reacts to the rhythms of funaná. Besides being a working musician I’m also an accordeon teacher. I was for instance the teacher of the famous funaná group Ferro Gaita. That’s also a part of my recognition. But what is most important is not to forget the importance of the accordeon in Cape Verdean society. Now I finally got the chance to show people what funaná is all about.”
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