Tabanka.no

Capeverdean culture, literature, music and history

About Tabanka.no

Tabanka.no is for people interested in the rich culture of Cape Verde islands: Literature, music, strip weawing, or other aspects of this fascinating little country.

Maintained by Olav Aalberg, based in Norway. E-mail:

badiu "at" tabanka.no

Other Information

Quick Links

March 24 2012:

Tcheka in concert - in Oslo!!!

Finally, Tcheka returns to Oslo

A long time favourite with the international jazz audience, Tcheka´s soft voice over a discrete, but distinct orchestration, is sure to captivate you with his concert at Cosmopolite, March 24. 2012

A must.

Info on the concert at Cosmopolite

Check out NRKs Jungeltelegrafen, we will present some unknown Tcheka material..

Listen to Tcheka´s music on his MySpace site

Listen via youtube

BATUKU! BATUKU!

Finally available on DVD: Gei Zantzinger´s documentary on the batuku tradition on Santiago island.

This is a 35 min. documentary on batuku and funana tradtitions, including extremely rare footage of the late great batukadera Nhâ Bibinha Cabral, my personal favourite, Nhô N´toni Denti d´Oro, and a master of gaita (accordeon), Armando Semedo. During the movie, you will also hear some (I think) inedited beautiful funana music. Lamentable, though, that the sound quality is not too good, but remember, it was made under rough conditions in the 80´s.

The batuku sessions are great, though it is apparent that the man behind the camera never got the point (or was too prudent), namely that the dancing is done basically with the hips and below. The young girls show their prowess by shaking the hips – and are of course being contested by the elder women.

Get it here: http://www.villonfilms.com/order.php?film=21 (USD 30 + postage)

And the documentary on Norberto Tavares: Journey of a badiu.

The late Norberto was one of the first to exploit the funana roots of Capeverdean music. He visits the islands, and introduces us to Nha Balila, another great batukadera.

Get it from www.villonfilms.com

Read about batuku here

See and listen to this powerful batuku/finason, by Gil Moreira. Da ku tornu, moss!

This is the cover of an LP with Cabral´s speech to the people of G.Bissau and Cape Verde on New Year´s day 1973. He was assassinated a very short time after the speech was recorded. You can hear Norway and Sweden being specifically thanked for their support to the freedom fighters.

Listen to the speech, part I

Listen to the speech, part II

A. Cabral was very concerned with culture as part of a country´s liberation. Read

National liberation and culture.

A lot of information on Capeverdean culture is to be found here. Missing something? Tell us.

We depend on your feedback to know what should be found here.

Check new links with interviews and presentations of Capeverdean artists

In English and Português.