ARTIST PROFILE: CARMEN SOUZA

Carmen Souza was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1981 within a Christian family of Cape Verdeans. She grew up in a mixed language environment of Creole (the Cape Verde dialect her parents spoke at home) and Portuguese, and was always surrounded by the Cape Verdean way of life. In her teens she sang professionally in a Lusophone Gospel choir. Being a strongly spiritual person, Carmen always saw music as her mission and felt privileged to have the opportunity to express herself through it, working hard every day to deserve that opportunity. Musicians like Luis Morais, Theo Pas'cal, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, and Diana Krall are among those that truly inspire her evolution and search for a unique personal style. Theo Pas'cal, her producer, mentor and one of the best bass players in Portugal, discovered her talent and introduced Carmen to jazz, fusion and other contemporary sounds that influenced her musical development.

In 2003, Carmen began working with Theo on the compositions that would be included on her debut album, Ess e nha Cabo Verde. Using the Creole dialect of her ancestors and featuring traditional African and Cape Verdean rhythms (Batuke, Morna, Cola djon, and others), Carmen mixed in her contemporary jazz influences to create a more intimate and acoustic vibe, different from the traditional festive environment of Cape Verdean sounds. Ess e nha Cabo Verde was released in 2005 to critical acclaim and led to her international breakthrough performance at the WOMAD Festival in Reading, England that same year. Verdade, her second album, was released in 2008. In addition to co-producing the album, Verdade featured Carmen’s talents on Wurlitzer organ and guitar, as well as an exciting and melodically vibrant vocal repertoire in Creole. Verdade received glowing reviews from the international press worldwide.

Carmen Souza returned in 2010 with the impressive recording Protegid (Protected), blending the elegance and sophistication of African and Cape Verdean traditional rhythms with contemporary jazz and Afro-Latin music. Once again the two composers, Carmen Souza and Theo Pas’cal, present an album that pushes the limits of what constitutes the Cape Verdean music, world music and jazz even further. Carmen co-produces, plays guitar and Fender Rhodes, and sings eleven of the twelve songs on the album.

On Protegid, Carmen Souza’s singular vocal approach and musical choices have earned her being compared with Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Cleo Laine, Eartha Kitt, and Marie Daulne. Her unique talent as a singer, composer and musician sets her apart from the crowded Cape Verdean scene and is gradually carving her own space in world music and jazz. Protegid is receiving outstanding reviews worldwide. World Music Central considers the album “a landmark that will prompt you to embrace and at the same time rethink everything you know and love about the sounds of Cape Verde.” NPR said the album “opens a window to another world entirely” and The Independent declares: “the poetic voice is as original as the musical one.” In 2010, Protegid received a nomination for the German Record Critic’s Award, and entered the World Music Charts Europe (WMCE). A new edition of Verdade, re-released by Galileo Records, also entered the WMCE and, by the end of the year, the album was included in several lists of “Best World Music Album” for 2010.

Carmen Souza has been touring extensively around the world since 2005. In 2010, she performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival, the London African Music Festival and the Leverkusener Jazztage Festival in Germany. Her concerts have been broadcast around the world by major TV and radio stations including the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, the Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, Radio 6 in the Netherlands, WDR/3SAT TV in Germany, and more. Her unique sound has been recognized by ethnomusicologists Gerhard Kubik and Fernando Arenas; a closer look into Carmen Souza’s groundbreaking work is included in Beyond Independence: Globalization, Postcolonialism, and the Cultures of Lusophone Africa, a new book by Fernando Arenas, published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2011.