The greatest voice of Cape Verde's small but proud artistic community, in a concert combining jazz, Creole culture, and world music: this Saturday, Cagliari's Bflat opens its November dates with two exceptional guests, world-renowned singer Carmen Souza and the equally celebrated Theo Pascal, who will present Souza's new album "Port'Inglês," just the latest chapter in a long and prolific collaboration between the two.
The artists
Over the years, Souza has carved her name in the international jazz scene, thanks to her incredible vocal virtuosity—which has led many to call her the "Cape Verdean Ella Fitzgerald"—and a unique style in which jazz notes and African roots coexist with Creole and Portuguese vocals, never failing to bring prestige to the precious microcosm of her country's music. With a sincere and creative interpretive expressiveness, Souza has collaborated since the beginning of her career with another prestigious name on the border between jazz and world music: Portuguese (but London-based) bassist and producer Theo Pascal, a central figure in Souza's sound, with whom she also leads the ethno-jazz supergroup Quamundos2. Together, at Bflat, they will perform as a duo for the Cagliari audience: Souza on guitar and vocals, and Pascal on double bass.
The disc
An artistic partnership spanning over twenty years, building connections between jazz, Afro-Latin, and Cape Verdean styles (such as morna and coladeira, recognized musical heritages of the archipelago) in a balance between modernity and tradition, revisited today with the new album "Port'Inglês." Souza's eleventh studio album, released last October via Galileo Music, "Port'Inglês" recounts the 19th-century British occupation of the nearby island of Maio, exploring themes of identity, cultural encounters, and migration, always moving between Cape Verdean rhythms and jazz structures. The album has topped the world music charts, considered among the genre's best last year, and adds another layer to the legendary career of one of the world's greatest ethno-jazz voices.
