Photo Credits: Image Courtesy Of Calabash Music
Bana
Andriano Conçalves — aka Bana — came into the world in the port city of Mindelo. With more than 30 albums under his belt, this master of morna and coladeira has a career in the recording industry that spans five decades and has fittingly been called the King of the Cape Verde Islands.
As a young boy, Bana was surrounded by the music of local singers. At 14, he would stay out late with local musicians as they serenaded the city with melodious songs. His mother was not happy with her young son's habits. She saw his late-night adventures as wild teenage behavior, worthy of punishment. Her opinion soon changed as the young singer's reputation began to spread around the island. When people began running to Bana's mother to request his appearance at parties and ceremonies, she could no longer deny his talent.
By 1953, Bana had come under the influence of Francisco Xavier da Cruz, known professionally as B. Leza. B. Leza's impact on Cape Verdean music cannot be overstated. In the 1950s, this famous uncle of Cesaria Evora taught Bana and many others the art of the morna. Late in his life, B. Leza was paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. The stout Bana used to actually carry B. Leza to performances. Suffering from shortness of breath, B. Leza shortened his words, swallowed his syllables and reinvented the Cape Verdean morna to accommodate his illness. He used these techniques with such grace and success that they have become characteristic of Cape Verdean music. Under B. Leza's influence, Bana's musical style gained a similar melodic flow and rhythm.
When B. Leza died in 1958, Bana was on his own. Soon, he went to Dakar, Senegal — the nearest big city — where he recorded his first album in 1962. The four-song album was simple and successful, selling 2,000 copies in the first two weeks. His work took him to France and later Holland, where he recorded two more successful albums. Around this time, Bana formed his own band, which he called A Voz de Cabo Verde (The Voice of Cape Verde).
Collaborating with fellow Cape Verdean musicians Luis Morais, Toi De Bibla, Jean Da Lomba, Morgadinho, and Frank Cavaquinho, Bana created a sound that has been the model for Cape Verdean bands ever since. The group's name could not have been more appropriate. Bana's albums were successful not only in São Vicente and the other islands of Cape Verde. Cape Verdeans in Portugal, Italy, France, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and the United States recognized Bana's Portuguese Creole mornas as the voice of their people heard around the world.
By the late 1960s, Bana was performing sold-out shows from Lisbon to Luanda. After an extended tour of Angola's capital city and countryside, Bana decided to slow down briefly in Portugal and open a Cape Verdean restaurant. Bana's Monte Cara is both a restaurant and a nightclub. It has been called Lisbon's "mecca for African music." Meanwhile, Bana continued to tour around the world and expand his international following.
Back in Cape Verde in 1975, Bana found himself on the wrong side of revolutionary politics. He was accused of collaborating with colonial powers, and forced to return to Lisbon. He received an official apology seven years later and returned to a warm welcome.
In 1986, after more than 40 years of singing, Bana decided to retire after one last tour of Cape Verde and its huge diaspora. Then, after a ten-year break from the business, Bana took a vacation from retirement to record the album Gira Sol, which was arranged and produced by Ramiro Mendes for MB Records. Hopefully, there will be more to come. Cape Verde has changed a great deal since a 14-year-old boy stayed out late to serenade the streets of São Vicente.
Born in Cape Verde under the flag of Portugal, Bana has evolved into an international symbol of an independent nation. He has received honors and the Medal of Grand Merit award from the president of Cape Verde, as well as the president of Portugal. – Banning Eyre, Courtesy Afropop Worldwide: www.afropop.org