Cristina Clara sings Vira do Minho with batucadeiras from Tarrafal

“I came this year with great joy to take part in AME. To present a project that I think has a lot to do with the spirit of this festival. My music is very influenced by the traditional sounds of Brazil, Portugal and Cape Verde. “It makes sense to be here, I’ve had a relationship with Cape Verdean music for several years now. Finally being able to be here and present my work, my first album Lua Adversa, it’s a great pleasure,” says the singer. .
The album, released in 2021, represents the last few years Christina has spent in Lisbon, which she considers a privileged meeting place for people from all over the world: “Mostly from Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal. It’s almost like a set of photos. to the music that I have experienced in recent years. I was very influenced by traditional music from the north of Portugal, such as fado, which is very present in this work, or choro from Brazil, or morna from Cape Verde,” says Cristina Clara.
Acquaintance with Cape Verde was an old dream of the singer. Who feels flattered for what happened in a context like AME. “The opportunity to host a group of batucadeiras from Tarrafal, whom I met here at a meeting a few days before the festival, was a great opportunity. it was a wonderful combination. In fact, these are sounds that have influenced each other in the past. That’s why it made perfect sense for me to bring it here. We have already done it in Lisbon with a group of batucadeiras from Santiago who live in Portugal. It was exhilarating to do it here. The generosity of the audience, the way they welcomed us and gave us a lot of love, made this concert even more exciting,” says Cristina Clara about the concert at Rua Pedonal no Plateau in Praia. From Cape Verde, he guarantees that he already draws inspiration for new work to be prepared soon.