Mayra Andrade
a global citizen pays musical homage to her Cape Verde roots
2008-09-03
By Terry Glover

When you start your singing career at the age of three, you are an unquestionable veteran by the time you hit 20. Such is the case with Mayra Andrade, one of the youngest musical talents to debut on the world music scene. If you are familiar with the music of Cesaria Evora, you know the music of Andrade’s home, the tiny archepelago of Cape Verde, situated 350 miles off the coast of Senegal.

Working a robust repertoire of Cape Verdean ballads, Andrade evokes an earthy, worldly presence in her interpretation of those tunes infused with African, Caribbean and Brazilian influences. The hybrid melodies are intimately familiar to Andrade, whose well-traveled parents lived in Cuba at the time of her birth, and subsequently, gifted her with a childhood spent between Senegal, Angola, Germany and Cape Verde. The result is, as she terms it, “a new way to promote my roots; a new way to live Cape Verde,” something she has been doing in live performances for the past six years.

Her debut CD, Navega is the culmination of that time spent developing her unique sound.

A rich blend of Andrade’s melodic innovation and the traditional Cape Verdean musical forms of morna (the national musical genre, to Cape Verdean artists as the blues is to American artists), bantuque, a faster version of morna, coladeira, and funana with its lyrics of political protest, Navega (“upon the waves”) explores themes specific to life in Cape Verde, yet universal in their triumphs, their sorrows and their passions: the fates and fortunes won and lost under the distant light of the moon; the lopsided democracy railed against by dissident nationalists; a village girl’s longing for the trappings of city life and the price she ultimately pays.

For Andrade, trappings of the city meant a move to Paris four years ago where she began voice lessons after winning the 2001 Jeux de la Francophonie songwriting contest. One performance after another followed, evolving from small Parisian venues to major summer festivals to an unseemly invitation by French icon Charles Aznavour to sing a French duet on his new album.

Finally, in 2005, work began in earnest on her own album, with Andrade once again fusing the international influences of some of the most creative musical talent working in Paris with her desire to interpret the sounds of her homeland. Featured on the album are Cape Verdean guitarist Kim Alves, mandolin virtuoso Hamilton de Holanda of Brazil, Malagasy accordion impresario Regis Gizavo, cellist Vincent Segal and Brazilian guitarists Tarcisio Gondim and Nelson Ferreira.

Paying homage to Cape Verde, four of the tracks included on the album were penned by the incomparable Orlando Pantera, who died in 2001, three from Andrade herself (one in collaboration with Patrice Larose), recorded almost entirely in Cape Verdean Creole, the language Andrade says best expresses the rhythms.

The result is an accomplished, nearly all acoustic collection of tracks, stripped of all studio trappings and completely confident in its simplicity.

Calling her approach to music “very instinctive,” Andrade sees her forays into new areas, whether it be scat (“sometimes it works, sometimes it is shit”) or new cultures (“America is a culture of the body. People here stare when I walk the street in my boubou”), she is conscious, always of the creative legacy passing through her work.

Passing through the States for the third time (first trip, Carnegie Hall), Andrade, fiercely aware of political developments, has made note of presidential nominee Barack Obama. What does she think of the Senator?

“I love his voice. Very, very charismatic – even if I don’t understand what he is saying.”

Navega (Sterns Music), North American release: September 2.

Watch Mayra video. Listen to Navega tracks.

Terry Glover is Senior Editor for EbonyJet.com. She writes about trends and popular culture.