Alex Tome
Lucibela’s Sept. 13 stop in Madison will be the second on her first U.S. tour.
Lucibela, a singer from Cabo Verde, the former Portuguese colony off Africa’s northwest coast, grew up surrounded by music. “In Cabo Verde, there was no house that did not have at least one player or neighbors who played,” she says. “Music was all around us. It’s our tradition.”
But music as a profession was not something Lucibela — who doesn’t use her last name — considered until her mother died. Lucibela was 18 at the time. “Older people in Cabo Verde did not see music as a profession, but my mother’s death changed the course of my life,” says Lucibela. She began performing in local nightclubs, building confidence and attracting a following while earning money to finish high school. Before that, she had planned to study economics and management.
As she gained a following, Lucibela moved to Lisbon, Portugal, and last year recorded her first album, Ti Jon Poca, for the Lusafrica label. She just embarked on her first U.S. tour, with Madison being the second of 14 dates.
Lucibela will play at 5:45 p.m. at Memorial Union’s Play Circle on Sept. 13, the first day of this year’s Madison World Music Festival.
She has been compared to the late Cesária Évora, an earlier Cabo Verde chanteuse. There are distinct similarities in the music they play from their home island, including the slow, sensuous mornas and the more sprightly and energetic soledaras.
But Évora, who died at age 70 in 2011, had a throaty, slightly smoky alto. Lucibela’s voice is a lighter, almost honeyed mezzo-soprano, and she adds a little more swing and nuance to her rhythms. Influences of jazz, rock and Brazilian bossa nova permeate her music, and she often sings in Portuguese.
“But I think without even understanding what I am singing I can convey the emotions of the music,” Lucibela says. “Listeners have told me that I make them cry or shiver through those emotions, while others have said my concerts are like a ray of sunshine that brightens up their day. When I sing, I try to convey the story of the music to the fullest, sometimes trying to see that story unfold in my head. I sing from my heart because I know it’s the only way to reach people.”
Lucibela is just one highlight at this year’s two-day festival, held Sept. 13-15. Ten artists and groups will entertain audiences at the UW Memorial Union and the Willy Street Fair, with music from Brazil, Chad, Honduras, Italy, Madagascar, Niger, Peru and other countries. Highlights include psychedelic Peruvian cumbia music from Los Wembler’s de Iquitos, and Vivalda Dula, which blends Angolan music, South American flavors and American funk into a unique sound.
