Jacqueline Fortes
Terra d'nhas gente
Jacqueline Fortes was born in Senegal of Cape Verdean descent. It is her mother who teaches her Cape Verdean creole and the love of her original land through stories, the sound of guitar, cavaqhinho and mornas immersing her in Sodade. During the seventies, she plays with several senegalese groups, singing mornas, coladeras and salsa... She grows up with the vivid will to discover Cape Verde which becomes possible in 1979 at the age of 25. This happens right before she moves to France where she finally settles. Upon Bana’s invitation during a trip to Holland, she records her first album “Seis Anos na Tarrafal” which comes out in 1981. In 1987, “Dialogo” comes out and the track “Marido exemplar” is such a success, it unofficially replaces the album’s name and remains a reference in her career. She then records“Coraçon Calma” in 1990 and Valor di Amor” in 1996. Dedicated to and occupied by familly matters, Jacqueline Fortes keeps away from the stage, leaving her public with a feeling of Sodade. Her new album “Terra d’nhas Gente” offers 12 exclusive tracks composed by authors such as Teófilo Chantre and Nitu Lima, among which 8 written by Jacqueline Fortes herself. Recorded at studio La Villa in Mindelo and mixed at Studio Do Soul in Paris, this album was arranged by Fernando Andrade, Cesaria Evora’s conductor. “Terra d’nhas Gente” is Jacqueline Fortes’s longed-for return, paying tribute to a creole feeling, that same feeling that overwhelmed her the day she first stepped a foot in Cape Verde.
