Carmen Souza, singer and songwriter
With Cape Verdean roots, born in Lisbon and living in London, she presented her latest album at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Port’Ingles, in which he tells small stories about the English presence in the archipelago. Hours before the concert, News Now Nigeria spoke with her and with Theo Pascal, her mentor, producer and Portuguese multi-instrumentalist.
The stories we find in Port’Ingles They talk about the lights and shadows of the relationship between England, as a colonial power, and Cape Verde. Why did you choose it for your new album?
Carmen Souza: I didn’t know that they had a very important 120-year presence on the Cape Verde Islands and a great impact on their culture. I discovered it almost by chance and I wanted to dedicate the final project of my master’s degree in Ethnomusicology to this topic. As I dug deeper into the research, I also found a lot of connections between this story and my personal life, so it made a lot of sense to do it about this.
Approach this relationship from several perspectives. It talks about a meeting between cultures, as in the song that opens the album, which is about Charles Darwin’s trip to the island of Santiago. But it also deals with the horrors of colonialism and slavery.
CS: The investigation was not easy, because there was not much documentation and the perspectives were always on the part of imperialism and the colonizer. The stories one finds are always embellished. We begin the album with Darwin’s visit, which he narrates in his book The Voyage of the Beagle, in which he talks about his experiences with the people he met, the environment and the landscapes, but always from a position of superiority. In “Pamodi”, the second song on the album, I talk about why the chains were needed if the European powers were supposed to spread a message of peace and Christianity, why in this meeting the colonizers benefited, but not the colonized. . The album explores the impacts on Cape Verdean culture: linguistic, social, economic and musical. I tried to create an imaginary in which beautiful stories of friendship between English and Cape Verdeans also fit.
He said that there are relationships with his own history.
CS: Many. My grandfather worked with English companies on the island of São Vicente, in the port of Mindelo, which became one of the most important in the Atlantic Ocean. English ships arrived there to load, unload and continue their journeys around the rest of the world. Another connection is that the ship on which Darwin traveled to Cape Verde left a port that is very close to where I lived until four years ago. By finding these connections I discovered more about my own identity and also about why I make the music I make.
Why this title?
CS: They called all the ports that the English had on the islands, “English port.” Currently only the one on the island of Maio is called that. I think it’s a nice name.
In the song “Francis drum” he talks about a controversial figure: Francis Drake, a hero for the English but a pirate and a slaver for the Cape Verdeans. Has addressing the topic of colonialism caused you any problems?
Theo Pascal: This is interesting. In England there is no problem speaking naturally about colonialism. They think we have to learn from history and correct it to do better. In Portugal it is different, or in Spain. In these countries, colonialism is a source of pride.
CS: When we go to Germany we see that the history of Hitler and Nazism is present on all the television channels and they talk about it frankly. In England I also find this mentality: “Let’s discuss things, talk openly and learn.” Many people want this dialogue and for different perspectives of the story to come out, which is not exactly how the textbooks tell it. There are also those who think that we have to forget what happened in the past. I think not. History talks about who we are today and why we are the way we are.
Unfortunately, humanity goes through cycles and makes the same mistakes. As Theo always says, music is a very powerful tool that helps people think. Culture connects people and instills in them a critical spirit to not accept everything and do things differently. All of us who are dedicated to culture, from musicians and artists to journalists, have to be closer to each other to respond to what is wrong and encourage this dialogue. Unfortunately, culture is losing value because capitalism is very strong.

How do they perceive it?
CS: In the media there is less and less space to talk about culture and cultural programs are becoming smaller and smaller. We have fewer record and book stores on the street.
TP: And everyday life is getting faster. People don’t have time to listen, to go to a concert. The culture is being left behind. The Internet can be a good way to connect people with culture, but what you find on the front lines is not culture.
CS: When you go online to listen to music, you hear one or two songs from an artist, but you don’t have the time or mental frame for an entire album. TO Port’Ingles They wouldn’t take the time to hear the whole story.
It has changed the way we listen to music. Now the norm is to do it with headphones on the way to work, when driving or cooking. How do you do it?
TP: As a musician, and also as a producer, I listen to silence a lot. Silence is part of music and I need to create spaces of silence to hear again. These are times of cleaning. It’s enough for me to go for a walk. That way you let the music get to your head. I can’t listen to other people’s music in the car, I have to be calm and have time, I don’t like to do other things at the same time. I need to be focused to feel the music. I usually listen to old music, from the 50s and 60s of all genres: traditional, jazz… It was more powerful music, because people suffered a lot to make it. Nowadays you have the tools to do it quickly and anywhere, and you don’t give it the same value.
CS: I have a lot of vinyl. I like playing vinyl because it forces me to listen to the whole thing from start to finish, you can’t skip to the next song. It’s like a ritual: play the record, wait for the machine to start, turn it over to listen to side B… It’s almost a moment of meditation.

Going back to Port’Ingles, It is also a declaration of love to Cape Verde. Carmen, what relationship do you have with the country of your parents?
CS: It’s part of me. I grew up in an environment where my father and mother spoke Creole and we ate what they eat there. My house in Lisbon was like another small Cape Verdean island and every time I go, since I was a child, I have felt very good. Our music is very well received there, because they feel that it has a lot to do with them. It is wonderful to feel the warmth they give us. It is a special place with a simplicity and humanity that you find in very few places today. When we were there last year, Theo asked the taxi driver how everything was going, and he replied: “Everything is fine. Since I don’t have money, I’m fine. You in Europe have money and a lot of problems. We always have something to eat, there is always a friend and if I want I can go to the beach and it’s free. “I’m fine, no stress.” That’s his mentality. We no longer know how to live like this. In London everything is very fast, everything is for yesterday.
TP: We would love to have that. Living calmly and enjoying every moment is very complicated in Europe. There is always a lot to do, a lot of hurry. In Cape Verde there is no pressure. You can leave things for next week. You have time to talk, to cook, to go to the beach, to compose, to play.
What is your creative process like? How do they compose?
TP: In this project, Carmen first had the stories for each song and then we set them to music. He created the melodies and sometimes also the harmonies, because he plays the piano and the guitar. I made variations and we built the rest of the music.
CS: For us, the origin of the songs has always been very spontaneous. Sometimes it’s a bass phrase from Theo, from which we build. It’s always different. I tend to compose with the piano, but sometimes I find more ways on the guitar.
Carmen, you sang in the church choir until you met Theo and began to dedicate yourself to music professionally. His virtuoso use of the voice is surprising, with which he explores all its possibilities.
CS: I like to experiment and not use the voice in a conventional way. The records my father played at home were always traditional Cape Verdean instrumental music, and I sang along, trying to get closer and closer to the sound of the instruments with phonetics. When I met Theo, who has been my mentor, I discovered the immense world of jazz. I listened to the records and sang the musicians’ improvisations with the different instruments, trying to get to that note on the trumpet or saxophone. When you don’t think as a singer, but as an instrumentalist, there are no limits.
TP: He has never had singing teachers and has a very large vocal range without needing to do exercises to expand it. Something very interesting about Carmen is that when she listens to a song jazz for the first time, he immediately starts singing it. It’s amazing! You know what the next notes are going to be! I say that Carmen did not discover the jazz, but it was in the jazz since always.

What voices are your main references?
CS: Ella Fitzgerald always makes me feel good. There is joy in the way he sings. And then, of course, Sara Vaughan, Cesária Évora, Billie Holiday and, more modern, Kurt Elling, who is one of the best singers of jazz nowadays.
How are the concerts you are giving on your tour in Spain going?
CS: We are feeling at home. The concerts in Seville were full and the people were spectacular. Also in Vitoria. We are very happy with this tour.
For you, what has to be there for it to be a good concert?
TP: A good sound, so that we musicians feel good and express ourselves well. And a good audience that knows how to listen. When it happens, we feel it while we play. It is an energy that reaches us and tells us that we are communicating. The music comes and goes. It is something almost spiritual. And in Spain that is achieved very well.
Carmen likes languages, she speaks several and that is reflected in her songs.
CS: I have always liked them, I think it comes from childhood. My father worked on cargo ships that traveled all over the world and calls from other countries always came home. When my father was not at home, I attended to them and, I don’t know why, I managed to talk to those people. We understood each other! I started speaking English very early. Before dedicating myself to music I was doing an English and German translation course. He had studied German because he had family there. When we were locked down due to the coronavirus, I studied French and went back to German. At concerts I always like to say some phrases in the audience’s language so that they feel with us on stage.

For the lyrics of his songs he mainly uses Creole.
CS: Because it is a very musical language. On each island it has different shapes and you can use them to express different feelings. On the island of Santiago there is a very fast Creole, but in Sâo Vicente it will sound more Brazilian, calmer.
What other personal interests do they have?
TP: I’m passionate about vintage analog recording material. The sound is more transparent, it is not as processed. It causes a very different emotion to listen to vinyl or a CD. The same thing happens if you play an acoustic piano. You can do it for two hours without a problem, but when it’s an electric one it ends up giving you a headache. Digital sound is more tiring.
CS: I am interested in ethnomusicology. Lusophone music is not as widespread in academic terms as Anglophone or Francophone music. I am studying the diversity of rhythms that exist in Cape Verde, in Angola, in Guinea-Bissau. My goal is to visit the musicians, record them with our mobile studio, understand the history of these rhythms and write about them so that people know all their richness.