Various Artists – ‘Space Echo – The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound Of Cabo Verde Finally Revealed’ (Analog Africa, 2016)
A long title for a compilation with a fascinating story. The artists featured in Space Echo – The Mystery behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Finally Revealed’ released music in the 1970s and early 1980s that used a wide range of electronic sounds performed on synthesizers.
With these keyboards, Cape Verdean musicians modernized local folk music like the popular dance style Funaná as well as mornas and coladeras.
The question is how did all these keyboards get there? The story as told by the record label begins in the spring of 1968 with a cargo ship loaded with instruments made by the prominent companies in the field of electronic keyboards, including Rhodes, Moog, Farfisa, Hammond and Korg. The ship was navigating towards Rio De Janeiro where an electronic sound exhibition, Exposição Mundial Do Son Eletrônico Exhibition, was going to be held. This was the first expo of its kind in the southern hemisphere. Musical instrument makers were to showcase their newest synthesizers and other devices to the growing South American market.
The cargo ship left Baltimore in the United States’ East Coast on a very calm morning and without explanation disappeared from the radar on the same day.
A few months later, villagers in Cachaço, on the Sao Nicolau island of Cape Verde, found a ship beached in their fields, 8 km from the coastline.
Portuguese scientists studied the ship and concluded that the ship had fallen from the sky. Some theories pointed to cargo lost by a Russian military cargo aircraft. Nevertheless, the mystery remained.
A team of welders arrived to open the containers and what they found were hundreds of boxes containing keyboards and other instruments that they had never seen before. The merchandise were temporarily stored in the local church.
The instruments were distributed equally in locations that had access to electricity, which placed them primarily in schools. The children picked up instruments that were easy to use and contributed to the modernization of local rhythms.
Without checking newspaper accounts from 1968, it’s hard to know if all this really happened. The story has a lot of holes and has a Bermuda Triangle-ish flavor. Did instrument makers really send a ship full of keyboards? Why would they send so many keyboards to an expo? Did the cargo ship contain any other containers? If the ship “fell from the sky” or was beached by a hurricane or water spout, why weren’t the keyboards broken? Anyhow, the story is fun to imagine but hard to verify.
One of these alleged children was the influential Paulino Vieira, who by the end of the 1970s became one of Cape Verde’s most important music arrangers. Eight out of the fifteen songs presented in this compilation were recorded with the backing of the band Voz de Cabo Verde, led by Paulino Vieira on keyboards, the architect of what is known today as “The Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde.”
The fifteen tracks, mostly from the early 1980s, were judiciously picked by the Celeste/Mariposa team, a sound system based in Lisbon, and by Mexico-based producer Deni Shain, as well as Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb.
The compilation is available on CD, vinyl and digital. It includes extensive liner notes containing personal interviews with 12 of the 14 artists featured.
Track-listing:
01. António Sanches – “Pinta Manta” 4:25 – Originally released on Táki-Talá (004-XL), around 1983
02. Dionisio Maio – “Dia Ja Manche” 4:37 – Originally released on Carlita Cox (CAR-COX-1), 1984
03. José Casimiro – “Morti Sta Bidjàcu” 5:23 – Originally released on Iefe Discos (Iefe-029), around 1983
04. Bana – “Pontin & Pontin” 4:16 – Originally released on Discos Monte Cara (DMC 111-120), around 1984
05. Fany Havest – “That Day” 5:01 – Private press (001 FH5), 1984
06. Pedrinho – “Odio Sem Valor” 6:05 – Originally released on Iefe Discos (IEFE-022), around 1983
07. Quirino Do Canto – “Mino Di Mama” 5:53 – Unknown
08. Tchiss Lopes – “Mundo D´Margura” 3:05 – Private Press (TL 02), 1984
09. João Cirilo – “Po D´Terra” 5:38 – Originally released on Edição Táki-Talá (001-XL), around 1983
10. Abel Lima – “Corre Riba, Corre Baxo” 3:08 – Originally released on Afrika New (ERL-01), 1977
11. Os Apolos – “Ilyne” 3:50 – Originally released on La Do Si Discos (780726)
12. Americo Brito – “Sintado Na Pracinha” 2:53 – Originally released on Arsom Records (801004), 1981
13. Elisio Vieira – “Capchona” 3:16 – Originally released on Brandão Records (BR-001), 1984
14. Antonio Dos Santos – “Djal Bai Si Camin” 7:21 – Private Press (A.S.-001-WZ), 1983
15. Abel Lima – “Stebo Cu Anabela” 4:31 – Originally released on Production Abel Lima (AL 05), 1980
Space Echo showcases the talent of young Cape Verdean innovators who used technology to modernize the islands’ traditional music, delivering a set of irresistible dance tunes featuring electronic keyboards.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
Incredible stuff