World Music Artists
Cape Verde, Africa, South America, Caribbeans...

Cesaria Evora

Cesaria Evora – Cize to her friends – was born on the 27th August 1941 in Mindelo, Cape Verde. Her bright voice and physical charms were soon noticed, but her hope of a singing career remained unsatisfied.

Bonga

Bonga won a lasting place in the hearts of Angolans nearly 30 years ago when he began to sing of Africa's humiliation, the misery of exile and rebellion against colonialism.

Lura

A Portuguese-speaking artist, Lura stands at the crossroads of Portuguese and Cape Verdean culture. Born in Lisbon in 1975 (the year of her country’s independence), she remains strongly attached to her family’s native land and the culture of Cape Verde

Tcheka

From Santiago island, this young man plays traditional rythms his own way...

Pierre Akendengue

Storyteller, warrior, sociologist and poet, Akendengue brings together different genres. With his poetic lyrics, subtle metaphors and apparently simple light melodies, Akendengue has established himself as a unique artist.

Sia Tolno

From North to South Africa, everyone will tell you: Guinean women are well-known for their character! A first meeting with Sia Tolno confirms the stereotype: she is not only beautiful, she is decisive, strong and determined too. What we immediately wonder

Luis Morais

The song “Boas Festas” – an end-of-year soundtrack heard everywhere on the radio and in the bars and taverns of Cape Verde – was written by the famous clarinettist Luis Morais, master of an entire generation of Cape Verdean musicians.

Mario Lucio

Lúcio Matias de Sousa Mendes, better known by his stage name of Mário Lúcio, was born in Tarrafal on the island of Santiago in Cape Verde on the 21st October 1964.

Teofilo Chantre

It has often been said of Teofilo Chantre that he “appeared in the shadow of Cesaria Evora” before making a name with his own records.

Hasna el becharia

Hasna El Bécharia is extraordinary. She is still the only woman in the Maghreb to play gnawi music, a ceremonial beat that has remained an exclusively male preserve

Cordas do sol

Over the last few years, Cordas do Sol has become the star group of the island of Sant'Anton, the most mountainous island in the Cape Verde archipelago, famous for its production of sugar cane and rum.

Jorge Humberto

A gifted singer with a warm, persuasive voice, Jorge Humberto was born on the 26th December 1959 on São Vicente in the port of Mindelo

Leyanis Lopez

Leyanis López Luque was born in Guantánamo, East Cuba, on the 8th October 1971. She began to perform there at the age of seven, singing in the choir of the Fabio Rosell del Río primary school.

Oliver N'Goma

Oliver N’Goma (his true name Olivier N’Goma), Noli to his friends, was born in Mayumba in Southeast Gabon on the 23rd March 1959. His father, a teacher, was reputed to be the best harmonium player in the region and introduced young Oliver to the instrumen

Boy ge mendes

In 1952, Gerard Mendes was born in Dakar, birthplace of a large number of Capeverdean people (the archipelago is just far off the coast of Dakar, Senegal). Then he grew up among a colorful community of Malians, Senegaleses, Guineans… and of course, Cape

Fode Baro

Born in a Fulani-Mandingo notable family of the city of Kankan, where many griots come from, Fodé Baro is the exception to the rule according which, only griots can make music in Guinea.

Tania Libertad

Peruvian by birth and Mexican by adoption, Tania Libertad is one of the greatest singers in Latin America today.

Bau

A musician who worked with Cesaria Evora when she appeared on the European stages (he then became director of her orchestra from 1995 to 1998), Bau has proved to be one of the most talented artists of the Cape Verdean scene.

Fantcha

Francelina Durão Almeida, a.k.a. Fantcha, was born in Mindelo. From the earliest age, she liked to sing. Instead of playing with dolls or hopscotch with her little girlfriends, her biggest pleasure was to sing with her two brothers who enjoyed playing gui

Cubanito

With Cubanito 20.02, the rebel island launched its music into the third millennium, blending tradition with modernity.
Cuban reggaeton now has a name and a sound: Cubanito 20.02.

Gil Semedo

La MC

La MC Malcriado has been around since 1998. It is a group of four old friends, each of them with a double French and Cape Verdean culture: Izé, JP, Jacky Brown and Stomy Bugsy.

Orquesta Aragon

Double bass player Orestes Aragón Cantero formed the Orquesta Aragón in 1939. With now 70 years of uninterrupted existence, it is probably the oldest band still playing today, in terms of popular music.

Ferro Gaita

Ferro and gaita: two haunting words that form the name of a unique group, but could equally serve as its manifesto or even an instruction manual to explain funana.

Meiway

Meiway, aka Fréderic-Désiré Ehui, leaves Abidjan for Paris in 1985 to improve his music skills. He records his first album “Ayibebou” in 1989 including the premises of Zoblazo, a style Meiway invented inspired from traditional rhythms from Grand-Bassam, h

Ildo Lobo

Ildo Lobo, son of Antoninho Lobo, also a singer, was descended from a long line of musicians and vocalists. Born in Pedra de Lume on the island of Sal on the 25th November 1953, Ildo Lobo passed away the 20th October 2004, at his home in Praia, the capita

Maria Alice

Maria Alice de Fatima Rocha Silva was born on the island of Sal in the Cape Verde archipelago on the 23rd October 1971. Sal’s international airport makes it Cape Verde’s interface with the world.

Tiolino

Today, a sun-drenched voice swells, singing of Cape Verde. It is the voice of Tiolino, a man of 38 who shows an astonishing musical maturity and freely acknowledges his descent from a long line of writers and players. Tiolino.

Anacaona

Everything began with the student strike against the tyrant Geraldo Machado, which triggered the closing of the University of Havana. Concepcion Castro Zadarriaga, a young, gentle and dynamic woman realizing that her studies have been stopped off, decide

Isaac Delgado

The guy’s a star in Cuba and has been for years, trends (and infidelity to his island) notwithstanding. He hasn’t been seen at home much lately.

Osdalgia

Osdalgia is one of the most promising of Cuba’s new generation of artists. In 2000, La Culebra, her first record, won “best album from a new artist” at the Cubadisco awards.

Chiwoniso

Chiwoniso Maraire rises from the throng of talented African artists as a new star for a new age. A lifetime of music in both Zimbabwe and the US, where she was playing simple mbira melodies by the age of four, set Chi (a nickname for Chiwoniso) up for the

Dona Ivone Lara

Ivone Lara Da Costa, a.k.a. Dona Ivone Lara, was born in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro State, in Brazil. A daughter of a traditional singer, she began to compose at the age of 12. One of her first songs was the refrain of a samba-song called “Tiê-tiê”.

Kompass

KOMPASS - biography
Kompass, meaning musical “time”, is the collective name chosen by the Cape Verdean musicians who have been working with Cesaria Evora since the recording of Café Atlantico in 1999:

Tito Paris

Tito Paris, «the dear child of São Vicente», began his professional career in a family of musicians in Mindelo when he was nine; first, he has been initiated by his brothers to the cavaquinho, then to the guitar; later he became a bass-player before to ta

Voz de cabo verde

Voz de Cabo Verde’s fortunes are emblematic and inseparably linked to the history of Cape Verde’s Diaspora. Fuelled by cycles of drought and famine, the country’s great migratory waves covered the world throughout the 20th century, especially reaching the

Ballou Canta et Luciana

Polo Montañez

Polo Montanez was discovered in 1999 by José da Silva, who recognised his genuine talent as a singer-songwriter. José quickly made up his mind to record the artist, who had already adopted the name Polo Montanez in honour of the “mountains” where he was b

Zao

Zao wields his needle, “L’aiguille”, sewing up rifts in his ravaged country and repairing the fabric of his career as an international singer and humorist, ripped apart time and again. First, he barely survived a pitiless civil war in the Congo.

Kapa Dêch

Full and generous voices, fusion beats, fluid melodies and ardent vitality… We could continue the list, mentioning the opulent, meticulous arrangements and the skilful architecture of writing that harmoniously blends jazz and Mozambican beats, Jamaican an

Sally Nyolo

Sally Nyolo knows that stories are doors and windows to be opened for others, moments to be shared.

Las primeras

Well, the group’s name has the advantage of clarity: Yusimi Villier, Sheila Vives and Yunmila Aguiar really are the first women to record reggaeton in Cuba.

Djalunga

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Bõa Vista was the economic capital of Cape Verde and its Sal Rei port located on a sheltered bay was a flourishing trade centre. It was in Bõa Vista that morna was born, a sweet and nostalgic style that informs the archipel

King kester emeneya

Emeneya Mubiala, aka KING KESTER EMENEYA, was born in 1956 in Leopoldville, the administrative capital of the Belgian Congo, which later became Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Septeto habanero

Septeto Habanero, founded in 1920 under the name Sexteto Habanero, is a veritable institution in Cuba and one of the oldest groups in the country. In spite of the increasing spread of certain kinds of present-day dance music, it keeps alive in all their v

Zêdess

In the words of Bob Marley, reggae is a means to convey a message of redemption to the peoples of the world. Of course, Zêdess’s message is more cheerful than Marley’s, his lyrics are undeniably his strong point. The Wailers made us sigh, but Zêdess has u

Maxima Alerta

It all began in Santa Clara, a busy city in the centre of Cuba. There and all over the island, young people listen keenly to radio programmes featuring reggaeton, the genre favoured by this 21st century generation.

Silita

A girl and two boys. A singer and backing vocals soaring free over the jubilant gallop of percussion and timbila, the wooden xylophone of the chopi people. The trio have not forgotten the teachings of their elders: to strike out into the future, you must

Tipico Oriental

Founded in Santiago de Cuba under the auspices of the celebrated singer, guitarist, band leader and composer Miguel Matamoros, whose son records are sold all over the world, Típico Oriental performs as a trio or a quartet, as the occasion arises.

Idrissa Soumaoro

Idrissa Soumaoro’s keen gaze, great eloquence and natural kindness are immediately apparent. The singer-songwriter has done much outstanding work in the field of Malian song and has partnered Ali Farka Touré, Salif Keïta and Amadou & Mariam among others.

Constantino cardoso

Roberto Isaias