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Feature
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Afropop Worldwide, Feature >>
-by Marcy S. DePina
Manuel Lopes Andrade, better known by his artistic name of Tcheka, breathes new life into the music of Cape Verde. Tcheka was born on July 20, 1973 in the port of Ribeira Barca, in the rural Santa Catarina district of Santiago island, the cradle of Cape Verde’s African heritage. Described as a vanguard of Cape Verdean music, Tcheka transposes traditional percussive beats onto his guitar and reworks the rhythms of batuku into his original compositions.
Growing up in a musical family, Tcheka began playing alongside his famous violinist father, Nho Raul Andrade and his other siblings at 14 years old. Nho Raul, who was the preferred string instrumentalist for Santiago’s festivals, weddings and baptisms, gave Tcheka a tap on the knuckles for every mistake, but soon the young musician began to stand out during his father’s performances. By the time Tcheka reached 15, he began developing his own style, incorporating the rhythms of batuku, a communal song and dance based in the African roots of the islands, with his guitar. Batuku is performed with a group of people, mostly women, formed into a circle beating a tchabeta, a percussive instrument traditionally made of tightly rolled panos, a cloth woven in rural Santiago which nowadays have been replaced with plastic bags, which is placed in between the thighs and beat with the hands. On the inside of the circle is a narrator who places a pano around the waist and dances the torno to the rhythm while improvising verses, calling to the circle members who respond while maintaining the poly-rhythmic beat of the tchabetas. Batuku’s lyrics are satirical in style and they offer a social commentary to and about the community at large. While batuku and its related genre of finaçon can be performed by either sex, female performers dominate the batuku world and it is often thought of as a female form. Like other Cape Verdean artists in the post-independence period, most notably the late Katchaz and the late Orlando Pantera, Tcheka began exploring and experimenting with new directions in the formerly ostracized Santiago sound. One of his first compositions, “Man’ba des bes kumida dâ”, which was recorded by Lura on the Di Korpu Ku Alma CD, shows clearly Tcheka’s musical direction to modernize the rhythms of Santiago for a wider audience.
Once Tcheka reached adulthood, he moved to Praia, the port capital of Santiago and Cape Verde and there he began working as a camera man for a national television network. While working in the capital, the singer, songwriter and instrumentalist traveled and expanded his musical horizons and he met Julio Rodrigues, a journalist whom he co-wrote and performed several songs around Praia. This experience brought Tcheka to maturity as an artist and led to the release of his first CD in 2003 entitled Argui. The CD was recorded through French based and Cape Verdean owned record label, Lusafrica in the new Harmonia studios in Cape Verde, making it one of the first major projects to be recorded in the country. Featuring songs like “Mamai Doka” and “Tabanka Assigo” Tcheka digs deep into his roots and brings Santiago culture and style into his own renditions. Following the CD’s release, Tcheka performed throughout Europe and recorded a DVD of a June, 2004 concert that took place in Lisbon, Portugal. This DVD was sold as part of his sophomore release in 2005, Nu Monda, also recorded at Harmonia Studios in Cape Verde, and it showcases Tcheka’s musical evolution as he now incorporates the percussive rhythms of African origin that exists throughout the archipelago. The CD offers rhythms such as the talulu festival beat from the island of Fogo and a tune called “Satanaz” which spotlights São Vicente’s carnival culture, expanding his repertoire and providing a cohesive musical representation of the diverse island nation.
The successful debut of Nu Monda was critically acclaimed and it led Tcheka to win the Radio France International Music of the World Awards on November 11, 2005 in Dakar, Senegal for Artist of the Year, making him the first Cape Verdean musician to achieve this honor. In addition, Tcheka was presented in October of this year as a featured artist at the World Music Expo (WOMEX) in Seville, Spain. Tcheka who has been described as a “pop-griot” continues to evolve his sound, transposing his roots and culture into music for all. 06/03/07 >> go there
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