Africa Is a Country

Songs for the Blue Sharks of Capo Verde

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Songs for the Blue Sharks of Capo Verde

By
Amílcar Tavares

The first in our Africa Nations Cup 2013 playlists; to drown out the commentator if they are annoying you during the game.

Sao Maria, Cape Verde (Nicola Locatelli, via Flickr CC)

First, it’s Cabo Verde, who have played brilliantly so far and have a huge game today vs. Angola.  Gilyto, aka Mr. Entertainer, and his song dedicated to Os Tubarões Azuis set the scene. It is an official song and captures people’s enthusiasm and affection for the national team. I don’t like it much, but people do, and it’s catchy (it speeds up Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”), and the video’s nicely done. The kids will love it. Plus, with those snippets of local radio commentary, it has the crucial ingredient in any cheesy football tournament song.

The game against Angola today is “the Lusophone derby” of Afcon 2013. It is likely to be a winner-takes-all match. What better day to listen to the great Cesária Évora’s song “Angola,” all about the friendship between Cape Verdeans and Angolans?

Next up here’s Bida di Gossi with “Os tubarões” and Bulimundo’s “Konpasu Pilon;” both are about how everyday life’s difficulties affect people’s lives.

Beach football. Table football. Dancing. Finaçon’s “Si Manera” has it all. This song talks about personal freedom and the struggle of the Cape Verdean people.

We can’t have a playlist for Cape Verde without featuring Mayra Andrade. Here she is: first up “Kaka Barboza”/ “Dimokransa,” and then “Quim di Santiago”/ “Kenha ki ben ki ta bai.”

Finally, two more from Cesária Évora (we couldn’t resist). “Petit Pays” is about our diaspora’s love of and nostalgia for their little homeland. And lastly, “Sodade“. In the 1940s, we had a famine, and many people were contracted to work in  São Tomé and Príncipe (never fulfilled contracts; these people effectively did slave labor). This song is about the nostalgia of those people.

Further Reading

Africa and the AI race

At summits and in speeches, African leaders promise to harness AI for development. But without investment in power, connectivity, and people, the continent risks replaying old failures in new code.

After the uprising

Years into Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, the rebellion faces internal fractures, waning support, and military pressure—raising the question of what future, if any, lies ahead for Ambazonian aspirations.

In search of Saadia

Who was Saadia, and why has she been forgotten? A search for one woman’s story opens up bigger questions about race, migration, belonging, and the gaps history leaves behind.

Binti, revisited

More than two decades after its release, Lady Jaydee’s debut album still resonates—offering a window into Tanzanian pop, gender politics, and the sound of a generation coming into its own.

The bones beneath our feet

A powerful new documentary follows Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi’s personal and political journey to recover her father’s remains—and to reckon with Kenya’s unfinished struggle for land, justice, and historical memory.

What comes after liberation?

In this wide-ranging conversation, the freedom fighter and former Constitutional Court justice Albie Sachs reflects on law, liberation, and the unfinished work of building a just South Africa.

The cost of care

In Africa’s migration economy, women’s labor fuels households abroad while their own needs are sidelined at home. What does freedom look like when care itself becomes a form of exile?

The memory keepers

A new documentary follows two women’s mission to decolonize Nairobi’s libraries, revealing how good intentions collide with bureaucracy, donor politics, and the ghosts of colonialism.

Making films against amnesia

The director of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’ reflects on imperial violence, corporate warfare, and how cinema can disrupt the official record—and help us remember differently.