Cape Verde: Atlantic Music Expo, between festival and music market
Atlantic Music Expo in Cape Verde: defenders of traditions, of music from the archipelago, the deans of Os Tubaroes set the National Assembly on fire.
© Guillaume Thibault / RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
Monday, June 13 in the evening took place the opening ceremony of Atlantic Music Expo.
After Mindelo, the island of fire where Cesária Évora was born, the 8th edition of the festival continues in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde.
A festival stopped for two long years due to the Covid pandemic.
This event, with its free concerts, is also a unique music market in West Africa.
A market that brings together artists, producers and festival programmers from all over the world.
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With our special correspondent in Praia,
Guillaume Thibault
To reconnect with music and celebration, a mythical group from the archipelago provided the atmosphere for the National Assembly, the venue for the opening ceremony.
40 years of career, seven albums, Os Tubaroes, the "sharks", are legends.
After two years of silence, of pain, bassist Mario Betancourt hopes for a return to normal:
“
We return to normality if possible so that we never relive a nightmare like the one that has passed
”.
“Showing Cape Verdean culture
”
It was the President of the National Assembly who opened the Atlantic Music Expo.
Optimistic, Austelino Tavares Correia wants the music to be supported again:
“
All the authorities are mobilized to move the festival forward.
And they are very optimistic
.
Like his six friends, the percussionist of Os Tubaroes, Jorge Lima, was unleashed on stage.
A shared energy, the public of the National Assembly ended this opening evening standing with an intense ovation:
“
For Cape Verde, the pandemic has been a disaster, especially at the cultural and economic level.
Now it's better, so we're back.
The most important thing for us is to show Cape Verdean culture.
This is what we stand for
”.
“The state has no money”
Obviously, the political actors have the will to revive the cultural industry, and particularly the music industry.
But, after two years of shutdown, the state has many priorities to manage and like everywhere in West Africa, the pandemic has been costly.
Music producer José Da Silva is one of the founders of the Atlantic Music Expo.
He welcomes the holding of the festival and the reopening of music venues, but he also recalls that the State will have difficulties in helping this sector.
"
Everyone was waiting for things to start.
And there, everything is full everywhere, people go out a lot.
All the tourist places are leaving.
The musicians who had left the tourist islands, for example to return to their islands, because they couldn't hold on, all went back to those islands.
Like all governments in Africa, we don't tell people everything, but here we can feel it, there is a real economic problem and culture is taking a hit.
So, between private individuals, we do things, but as soon as there is the State, it's complicated, because the State has no money, the town halls have no money.
But, they never say no and at the last moment, the budget does not come out and events suffer.
In any case, the festival is good for everyone, we are happy.
We're all overworked, but we're happy
".
► To read also:
Cape Verde: Mamadou Sulabanku enchants the Atlantic Music Expo festival in Mindelo
► To read also:
Cape Verde: the Atlantic Music Expo resounds for the first time in Mindelo
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