Fra Brock: Frank Kawakim’s Rock ‘n’ Roll in Hira Tavares’ Creole Fusion

Hira Tavares was born in Praia, Santiago Island. As is customary in Cape Verde, it was in church that he first came into contact with music. He studied guitar with Kim Alves, Angelo Brito and Ney Betancourt, who was the teacher of Panther with whom he took lessons.

“Starting with church bands, I started playing in pubs like Tex, which was very famous for its music. And at concerts I immediately started performing bossa nova, which was my first love,” says Hira, who confirmed that this was exactly the music she wanted to perform. . He took the guitar and hit the road.

He lived in the United States of America, where he performed in art galleries and at some jazz festivals. He returned to São Vicente at the invitation of Hernani Moreira to attend a fashion show. “I saw that in San Vicente the vibration from the music was higher. The capital is Praia, there are other things happening, but Mindelo is the cultural capital,” recalls the singer, who found artists in São Vicente, where she now lives. with great openness and easily adapted to the style of their music.

In 2022, he went on tour in Germany and realized that Europeans already knew jazz and blues, but did not know Cape Verdean music. Then he felt the need to perform the songs of his homeland. “What I get obviously comes from all the influences of the music I listen to and learn to play: bossa nova, blues, jazz,” says Hira Tavares, who was in Portugal for a series of concerts that took place in B.Lesa, Malandro do Marques and the Cultural Center of Cape Verde.

“When I returned to Portugal, I decided to create the Fusão Crioula project to play Cape Verdean music in my own way. Funana, I grew up on funan and tabanca, which just so happened to be the only one that couldn’t be changed because it was already there. the rhythm is very similar to fast rock or techno,” says Hira Tavares, who at Fusão Crioula performs her version of songs by Pantera, Tcheka or Eugénio Tavares.

Fra Brok is the first of four singles he has produced. The song was created by Frank Kawakim, a Beatles fan. It was written for Luis Morais, leader of the band Voz de Cabo Verde. Fra Broc (drilling holes) is what happens when a person tries to live, first on one side, then on the other, without peace and a little disoriented,” explains the singer.

The idea for this song came from a project that did not include originals. She researched several songs that she thought related to her, traveled to Cape Verde in the sixties and found Fra Broca. “When we found the song, we chose producer Hali Angel, who asked me how I wanted to make this version. I asked him to make a version similar to mine. He made this very good version, the current Fra Broc, which was already, first of all, very good material, ahead of its time,” describes the singer Hira Tavares, who after the end of the tour returns home to Mindelo for several well-deserved swims on the beach Laginya.