Yudu - fRoots October 2015

root salad f20 Karyna Gomes

Bas Springer talks with a singer from relatively under-exposed Guinea-Bissau.

part from the legendary band Super Mama Djombo and singer- guitarist Manecas Costa, the music of Guinea-Bissau is hardly known outside Africa. The national rhythm of this former Portuguese colony (it became independent in 1974) is the infectious, polyrhythmic gumbe, once banned by the Portuguese colonists as being subversive. In 2002 Manecas Costa introduced gumbe to the world music community on his debut Paraiso Di Gumbe. Since then little has been heard of the music of this small West- African country that borders on Guinea (Conakry), Senegal and the Atlantic Ocean.

But as ever in Africa, such young talents as Karyna Gomes are always on the rise. She was born and raised in Guinea-Bissau although her mother is from Cape Verde. At the moment she lives in Portugal “for strategic reasons because my record label and management are based in Lisbon”.

She sang in Super Mama Djombo from 2007 until 2013, the band that became a symbol of Guinea-Bissauan identity after independence. “Super Mama Djombo was a school for me. It’s a kind of initiation place for young talents.” In October 2014 her first CD Mindjer (Woman) was released and since then she has been playing all over the world.

“My album is a fusion of styles. My musical roots come from the ‘convívios do quintal’, backyard gatherings where the family comes together to make music and dance. The traditional music of Guinea-Bissau only consists of vocals and percussion. We sing in Kriolu, our national language, which is mix of Portuguese and local languages. The origin of Kriolu goes back to the 16th and 17th Centuries.”

“For me the most important rhythm is the rhythm of the tina, a kind of calabash in the water, which I infuse with soul, R&B, jazz, African rhythms and Cuban music. As my mother is Cape Verdean I also feel some influences from Cape Verde.”

“I started singing in Rejoicing Mas

Choir, a gospel band in Brazil where I was studying journalism. I was a great fan of Michael Jackson and American pop music Now I listen to all kinds of music. With my band we mix traditional instruments like tina and kora with accordeon, cello, guitar and piano.”

“My album is a genealogy of the music of Guinea-Bissau. Apart from five of my own compositions I recorded songs by Adri- ano ‘Atchutchi’ Ferreira (founder of Super Mama Djombo), Zé Manel and José Carlos Schwarz, who played folk music with mod-

ern western instruments. Their songs date from the days of the independence strug- gle. We call this style ‘Música Moderna Guineense’. Justino Delgado and Micas Cabral from Tabanka Djaz are two of my greatest music heroes. The first one is my cousin, the second is my uncle.”

In the past some popular musicians had serious problems with the government, for instance José Carlos Schwarz, who died in a plane crash under suspicious circumstances. Zé Manel was banned in 1983 and singer- poet Justino Delgado was arrested, both for criticising the government. Has anything changed since those days ?

“These days the government is less rigid but two years ago a rapper called Masta Tito was brutally beaten by people from the system. In his texts he is very out- spoken. To avoid problems I use metaphors in my texts.”

“M

y album is a tribute to all Guinean women for their strength, determination and courage. Therefore I

chose the title Mindjer, meaning ‘Woman’. I write songs about women, feelings, love and social problems. I have been working as journalist and I discov- ered that there are a lot of strong women in my country. They struggle every day to keep their families alive. They do agricul- tural work, fishing, produce salt under the very hot sun or do other hard work. At the same time they are mothers and wives, who are occupied with their family and community. So they have many wor- ries but they don’t give up and are always smiling. This is not only the case in my country but also for instance in Portugal, where the women are also very strong. I came from a family of very strong women. My grandmother, my aunt and my mother , they all are really strong.”

“When it comes to the position of women in Guinea-Bissau there is still a lot to do. Men are in all leading positions. Fortu- nately we have some institutions that fight against the inequality of women.”

“Guinea-Bissau is changing. We are in a new age because the political instability and social unrest is over. We are restarting and now for the first time I see women in key posts. For example the Minister of Defence is a woman, that’s really unique in my country. So little by little things are changing .I think if we keep on fighting against discrimination of women we will achieve our goal.”