Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Note to Reader
- Foreword: The Music Politics of Norberto Tavares
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 Son of Santa Catarina: Norberto Tavares’s Early Years (1956–73)
- 2 Cabo Verde and Its Traditions in Context
- 3 Revolutions and Transformations (1973–75)
- 4 Volta pa fonti: A Return to the Source for Musical Inspiration and Grounding (1976–79)
- 5 Starting Again in America (1979–88)
- 6 Playing My Culture (1988–)
- 7 Opening the Door to Democracy: Norberto Tavares Goes Home (1990)
- 8 Changing Scenes in New England (1991–99)
- 9 The Final Years (2000–2010)
- Epilogue: The Legacy of Norberto Tavares
- Works Cited
- Index
1 - Son of Santa Catarina: Norberto Tavares’s Early Years (1956–73)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 January 2023
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Note to Reader
- Foreword: The Music Politics of Norberto Tavares
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 Son of Santa Catarina: Norberto Tavares’s Early Years (1956–73)
- 2 Cabo Verde and Its Traditions in Context
- 3 Revolutions and Transformations (1973–75)
- 4 Volta pa fonti: A Return to the Source for Musical Inspiration and Grounding (1976–79)
- 5 Starting Again in America (1979–88)
- 6 Playing My Culture (1988–)
- 7 Opening the Door to Democracy: Norberto Tavares Goes Home (1990)
- 8 Changing Scenes in New England (1991–99)
- 9 The Final Years (2000–2010)
- Epilogue: The Legacy of Norberto Tavares
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
If you want to understand my music, you need to go to Santa Catarina and meet the people there.
I was born in Santa Catarina—that’s Badiu. Sometimes I’d go to visit my uncle far away in the country where I learned the real tradition. I was from a village and usually in the village, you don’t learn the real tradition of your people. I felt lucky to be able to go into the countryside and see the real tradition.
—N. TavaresAssomada is an old settlement located on a high plateau in the interior of Santiago island, cradled by a wild range of mountains that emerges from sea level like a spiny reptile’s back. Assomada (pop. fifteen thousand) is surrounded by fantastic stony peaks that are punctuated by deep ribeiras—river valleys carved by water and debris tumbling down into the sea over millennia. The tallest mountain south of Assomada, Pico de Antónia, reaches the height of 1394 meters, and the imposing Serra da Malagueta range lies to the north of the plateau. Assomada’s high elevation brings both cooler temperatures and more moisture to the area, making the region viable for small-scale farming.
Assomada serves as the seat for the municipality of Santa Catarina, a tract that encompasses much of Santiago’s interior. Connected by road to the port city Praia twenty-six kilometers to the south and to Tarrafal harbor at the northern end of the island, the town has long been an important hub for island activities. This is evident in Assomada’s many Portuguese colonial-style buildings, reflecting its role as the commerce and administrative center of Santa Catarina. The city developed around a prominent Catholic church and government buildings situated on a town square. There is a busy walled marketplace close by with the telling name Pelourinho (Little Pillory Market). This name marks the site of a centrally located whipping post, or pillory, where enslaved Africans were sold or beaten, one of several such posts on Santiago island. Although Pelourinho has become just the name of the marketplace through everyday usage, the name should serve as a reminder that Assomada culture has direct historical connections to slavery, the Atlantic slave trade commerce, and to colonial insurrections.
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- Information
- Songs for Cabo VerdeNorberto Tavares's Musical Visions for a New Republic, pp. 29 - 48Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2021