Cape Verde is best known for the melancholy morna ballads of the late Cesária Évora, but that’s not the only great music on the islands. Funaná is a rousing, accordion-based style that evolved from the music of African slaves in rural communities, and was banned before independence in 1975 because the Portuguese colonialists considered the songs to be subversive. Victor Tavares, better known as Bitori, was one of the finest exponents, although the accordion star didn’t get round to recording until 1997, when he was joined by the exuberant young singer Chando Graciosa, with driving bass and drums now providing the rhythm section in place of the traditional ferrinho, a scraped metal bar. Their music became popular in urban dance clubs thanks to hypnotic, stomping songs like Cruz Di Pico or Didi Di Réz, and now these celebrated recordings are being rereleased as Bitori prepares for his first European tour.
.png?w=600)
