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Concert Preview: Music of Cape Verde islands comes to Arden
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The News Journal (Delaware Online - Wilmington, DE), Concert Preview: Music of Cape Verde islands comes to Arden >>
By CHRISTOPHER YASIEJKO
Lura was born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal, but she is a champion of an archipelago that dots the Atlantic Ocean 300 miles west of Dakar, Senegal, and gained its independence in 1975.
That makes Cape Verde, a nation comprising a cluster of islands with an area of just 1,557 square miles (Delaware's is 1,982), about as old as Lura, 31, who Wednesday night performs with the five-piece Cape Verde Afro-Latin Band at Arden's Gild Hall.
The singer, who goes only by the name Lura, first visited her parents' native land at age 21. But she has embraced the islands' unique musical recipe of Portuguese and West African influences, and she is part of the young nation's continuing cultural evolution.
Her influences include batuku, a rhythmic tradition that Cape Verdean women would employ as a singer critiqued social problems, and funana, an accordion-based genre that is accompanied by an erotic, hip-swiveling dance.
Another influence is Cesária Évora, the Grammy Award-winning folk singer known as the "barefoot diva."
"She is like a mother of Cape Verdean music," Lura says. "All my life, I listen to her music."
Lura's band includes piano, bass and lead guitars, a percussionist and a drummer.
Wednesday, 8 p.m., at Arden's Gild Hall, 2126 The Highway. $25, Arden Club members $20. Call 475-3126 or visit www.ardenclub.com. 12/03/06 >> go there
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