Mayra Andrade

cape verdean // worldbeat

She was born in Cuba, grew up between Senegal, Angola, Germany and finally settled down in Cape Verde. You can feel the influence of all these locations her music; a soft and friendly accessibility met by a very developed melodic intellect. In much of her music, she sings in Cape Verdean Creole, which is a derivative of Portuguese. She’s not surprisingly up for Best Newcomer in the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards. Her song “Lua” is a warm tropical treat; while “Regasu” is a somber ballad in the style of Cuban son Cape Verdean Morna. (Thx, Andre!)

Sweet music from the African Cape’s barefoot diva.
Mayra Andrade – Lua
Mayra Andrade – Regasu
buy this cd

Posted by Paul Irish on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 under global.

16 Responses to “Mayra Andrade”

  1. Andre said on February 5th at 2:16 pm :

    Wow I’m really delighted to see that you published it! :)

    I’ll send you a new one one of these days!

  2. TheOxhorn said on February 5th at 3:27 pm :

    Mayra’s got a real sultry voice. Her band brings these tracks’ atmosphere to life – and the guitar (lute?) playing on Regasu: stunning, especially the multi-part interlude in the first third.

  3. Andre said on February 5th at 7:04 pm :

    By the way, the analogy of “Regasu” with a Cuban Son is interesting…
    But I have to say that, myself beeing Portuguese and knowing a bit of Cabo Verde’s music, I’d say this is more like a “Morna” : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morna_%28music%29

  4. DR said on February 5th at 7:40 pm :

    She’s smoking hot!!

  5. Paul Irish said on February 6th at 12:42 am :

    Andre,
    What a rich sound! I think you’re onto something there.

    For everyone,
    Here is Cesaria Evora – Sodade on youtube, a successful hit from the Morna scene.

  6. fresquinha said on February 6th at 8:14 pm :

    I have to agree with André. Interesting association with Cuba, but no … it’s pure Morna, a Cape Vert type of song, corresponding in many ways to the portuguese fado. Other than that … My grand-mother was born in Cape Vert and I grew up with Mornas and Coladeras (a more cheerful kind of beat). Regards and keep up the good work !

  7. Prasant said on February 7th at 1:21 am :

    great find paul!

    looks like most of your readers like the new player. though i didn’t like the player the first few times, i’ve gotten used it. i think the best part of the new player is the fact that I can play all the music on the blog, without having to click the play button for each song. i just click play on the first song and it just plays though the entire blog.

  8. Paul Irish said on February 7th at 7:42 pm :

    Andre and fresquinha,
    Thanks for the correction. I love hearing from people who know way more about this than I could ever imagine. Thanks for sharing your music with us!

    Prasant,
    I’m glad to hear you like it! I like that feature a lot, too. :) Cheers.

  9. googoodoll said on February 16th at 12:11 pm :

    I’m so glad I listened to Andrade – as a recent fan of world music. —-

  10. DamionKutaeff said on March 23rd at 9:16 am :

    Hello everybody, my name is Damion, and I’m glad to join your conmunity,
    and wish to assit as far as possible.

  11. Julia said on February 23rd at 5:40 pm :

    Revisiting this post after a year, still love, love it. :) More like this, please.

  12. Claudio said on March 18th at 12:31 am :

    Everything about Mayra is beautiful. I’m Angolan and whenever she comes to Luanda she is loved. My favorite song of hers is Lapidu Na Bo.

    Another singer of the same genre and country is Sara Tavares. Check out her song Dam Bo. Bliss.

  13. Pual said on August 31st at 2:30 pm :

    Lua… inspirational… get me a cup of Cafe conleche e azuka…

  14. Michael Santos said on January 3rd at 10:51 pm :

    More music like this at capeverdeanart.com “Discover the Beauty”

  15. Manu Salahudin Omowali Mateus said on January 4th at 5:41 pm :

    A concert she is.

  16. Abel Djassi said on January 5th at 9:54 am :

    Correction: where it reads, “Her song “Lua” is a warm tropical treat; while “Regasu” is a somber ballad in the style of Cuban son Cape Verdean Morna. (Thx, Andre!)” – actually the song is in the style of a traditional Batuku, a folk music from the Santiago Island’s countryside (and not to morna!)

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