Manuel Lopes Andrade, a.k.a. Tcheka, was born on the 20th July 1973 in the port of Ribeira Barca, Santa Catarina district, on Santiago, the most African island of the Cape Verde archipelago. At a very early age, he began to perform alongside his father, Nho Raul Andrade, a highly popular violinist at the island’s village dances and festivities. Tcheka was in good hands. Every wrong note brought a rap on the knuckles from his father’s bow, but he learned quickly and soon made his mark at dances, weddings, baptisms and so on.
However, the boy had other ambitions. At 15, he began to develop a more personal style, based on batuque. One of the first pieces he wrote, “Man’ba des bes kumida dâ”, gave a clear idea of the musical path he wished to follow. His aim was to widen the appeal of batuque, turning it into a beat that everyone would love.
In the meantime, a man must earn his living. Tcheka left his rural home and went to live in Praia, where he became a cameraman for national television, a job that involved travel and broadened his horizons. In Praia, Tcheka met journalist Julio Rodrigues and wrote a number of songs with him. The two played informally in the bars of the Cape Verdean capital. In one of these bars, José da Silva met him and proposed him to record an album…
On his second album, Nu Monda (which means “weeding”), singer-songwriter Tcheka brings us another harvest of musical stories grown in the rich soil of Cape Verdean tradition. With his alert commentator’s eye (perhaps the result of his former work as a cameraman?), he builds bridges that span different areas and periods of sound: tradition and youth, Santiago and music from all over the world…
His songs are like brushstrokes, redolent of the originality of his art, heir to “batuque” (1) – traditionally played with the tchabeta (2) – the beat of African resistance that even the prohibition of drums and the repression of the colonial period failed to stifle.
Moving on from his previous album, Tcheka revels in new audacities. He contracts and dilates – now slower, now faster, more impassioned or intimist – different beats of batuque, a genre the artist maintains “still holds many paths to be explored”. At times, morna chords blend in, at others, the style seems to lean towards funk influences, without ever ceasing to be purely Cape Verdean.
You might call Tcheka as a sort of pop griot, a storyteller whose chosen backcloth is Cape Verde’s rural lands, its animals and plants, its rocks, paths, droughts and rains. His central character is the people of the archipelago, with their saints, holidays, customs and expressions, as well as universal themes of love, friendship, passing time, tragedies, hopes and joys.
Tcheka is a key figure in the musical movement that has transposed the original beat of batuque to the strings of the guitar, and which – after breathing new life into Cape Verdean music – has established itself as a turning point in the evolution of the archipelago’s musical identity – a newborn infant, awaiting the recognition that baptism brings. Some call the movement “batuque do quintal”, because it appeared at the “Quintal da Musica” (an active cultural forum in the city of Praia) in this first decade of a new century. But writer Osvaldo Osório, specialist in Cape Verdean culture, prefers to refer to these musical genres as “narrative songs”, because they always tell a story.
Batuque & tchabeta
For a long time, drums were banned by the Church and the Portuguese colonial authorities, but Cape Verdean women found a way to get around this prohibition.
Batuque, a beat specific to the island of Santiago in the Cape Verde archipelago, conveys the collective memory and identity of a people. Batuque was first played after work in the fields, traditionally by women. Sitting in a circle, they tapped on a “tchabeta”, a bundle of cloth, normally made of piled loincloths that they rolled up and held between their legs. Depending on the thickness and compression of the fabric used, these cloth drums produced a variety of sounds. Batuque provided an accompaniment for “finaçon”, a vocal style that the women improvised to suit their audience and the occasion. Following African tradition, the singers commented on village events, celebrated farming festivals, births and marriages, and commemorated deaths. Sometimes one of them would enter the “terrero” (the inside of the circle) and dance.
Today, these inflexible traditions have been radically updated. Firstly, the women – who hardly ever wear loincloths now – make their drums from plastic bags. Stacked and folded in the customary way, they produce a wide range of sounds (listen to the Terrero album). Secondly, young men like Tcheka are adopting these traditional styles, batuque and finaçon, their childhood lullaby, to assert their African identity more actively.
Venez fêter l'indépendance du Cap Vert à Toulouse le 05 juillet 2008 à partir de 21h au Restaurant Aux Délices du Cap Vert! Soirée organisée par l'association Cap Vert Toulouse (capvertoulouse@gmail.com). Au programme, Mémé Landin Pour se mettre bien en jambe, on peut compter sur la musique de Mémé Landin, de son gaîta, le petit accordéon du Cap Vert, et de son groupe. Mémé Landin représente à lui tout seul toute la tradition des îles sous le vent et du Funana, ce genre musical singulier qui marie l’Afrique et l’Europe. Sa musique festive et puissante tire sa force de l’oppression dont ont été victimes les premiers habitants du Cap-Vert, esclaves venus d’Afrique.
Funana, style de musique typique de l’île de Santiago animant les bals au son du gaita (accordéon) et du ferrinho ( morceau de tôle sur lequel on racle un couteau pour marquer le rythme). Le funana se danse en couple.
Invité Heleno dos 8 Baixos (Forró – Brésil – Pernambuco)
Démonstration de danse (Batuk – Kuduro)
Entrée + Repas 21 euros (Spécialités Capverdiennes) Réservation Obligatoire 05.61.63.04.07/ 06.65.73.76.33 www. myspace. com/delicesducapvert Restaurant Aux Délices du Cap Vert 21, Avenue de Lyon 31500 Toulouse (Début du Faubourg Bonnefoy en face de la station service, proche de la gare routière/ gare sncf matabiau, métro marengo).
Obrigado pela amizade. A sua musica è "Riqueza e Natureza" juntos. Viajei pra ilhas de Cabo Verde nos anos '80, como morava em Dakar, e ainda ficam bem plantadas no meu coracao. Parabens, 'ce è super-musico e super-compositor. Umberto
Hola!!!!!!!!Tcheka Como estas se que muy ocupado,por lo cual quiero decir Gracia muchas Gracia,por podel estar en tu lista y ser parte tu amistad,aun en distancia,quiero decirte que tuve una oportunidad de disfrutar y llevar tu musica conmigo,mi mama te manda saludo,por lo cual espero que pronto pueda verte por aqui en la ciudad de chicago ill, que Dios te bendiga siempre amigo Tcheka te mando un fuerte habraso y un beso desde Chicago ill tu admiradora y amiga Mercedes:)
Hello Tcheka, thx for adding me and for the wonderful concert yesterday on the Africa Festival in Würzburg. I hope to see you soon again on stage:) Blessed Love, Light
Thank you for the add Tcheka. I really want to let you know that I absolutely love your tunes. I wish you nothing but world success. Paz, amor e harmonia. Edna
Hi, New Track!! A modern remake of Elvis '68 comeback special. ~BABY WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO~ Feel free to comment. I would appreciate the feedback. Thanks for the support Lou
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Olá Tcheka. um grande praser por me adicionares como amigo musical,obrigado. espero que um dia me vezites aqui em Cascais no meu studio mais o Lucio Vieira e fazer um som aqui! um grande abraço de cascais para cabo verde. Vicente Pereira (Luis)
HI thnx for the friendship and it’s nice to know you! Think it’s nice to be connected with musicians all over the world. In music we are all alike and speak the same language!!! I think you have very nice music, I enjoyed listening to it…… really sounds GREAT ….love it !! Greets from “D E E Z E L” (Belgium) and lots of luck in every thing you do!! If you can find the time check out my music too (thnx)
