Alias:

Manuel Lopes Andrade

Language:

Creol

Genre:

Batuque Jazz Afrofunk

Instrument:

Guitar

Articles:
On Cape Verdean music

On the Internet
On Cape Verdean culture

Biography

Photo: Olav Aalberg

Manuel Lopes Andrade, aka Tcheka, was born on the 20th July 1973 in the port of Ribeira Barca, Santa Catarina district, on Santiago, the most African island of the Cape Verde archipelago. At a very early age, he began to perform alongside his father, Nho Raul Andrade, a highly popular violinist at the island’s village dances and festivities. Tcheka was in good hands. Every wrong note brought a rap on the knuckles from his father’s bow, but he learned quickly and soon made his mark at dances, weddings, baptisms and so on.
However, the boy had other ambitions. At 15, he began to develop a more personal style, based on batuque, one of Santiago Island’s more popular beats, originally played by women. One of the first pieces he wrote, “Man’ba des bes kumida dâ”, gave a clear idea of the musical path he wished to follow. His aim was to widen the appeal of batuque, turning it into a beat that everyone would love.
Batuque is a beat specific to the island of Santiago in the Cape Verde archipelago, conveys the collective memory and identity of a people. Batuque was first played after work in the fields, traditionally by women. Sitting in a circle, they tapped on a “tchabeta”, a bundle of cloth, normally made of piled loincloths that they rolled up and held between their legs. Depending on the thickness and compression of the fabric used, these cloth drums produced a variety of sounds. Batuque provided an accompaniment for “finaçon”, a vocal style that the women improvised to suit their audience and the occasion. Following African tradition, the singers commented on village events, celebrated farming festivals, births and marriages, and commemorated deaths. Sometimes one of them would enter the “terrero” (the inside of the circle) and dance.
Today, these inflexible traditions have been radically updated. Firstly, the women make their drums from plastic bags. Secondly, young men, Tcheka is not alone, are adopting these traditional styles, batuque and finaçon, to assert their African identity more actively.
As a young man, Tcheka left his rural home and went to live in Praia, where he became a cameraman for national television, a job that involved travel and broadened his horizons. In Praia, Tcheka met journalist Julio Rodrigues and wrote a number of songs with him. The two played informally in the bars of the Cape Verdean capital and other musicians soon joined them: percussionist Pery, bassist Kizo, flautist Robert Pemberton (a Scotsman who lived in Cape Verde) and, more recently, percussionist Raul.
Today, Tcheka is well-known in Praia for his work in modernising “batuque”, in much the same way as Catchas updated Funana, the other great Santiago beat, in the seventies. Providing a new reading of batuque while conserving its traditional structures is the message of Tcheka’s first album, entitled “Argui” , “rise / stand up” in Creole.

Relevant artists:
Boy Ge Mendes
Cesaria Evora
Bau
Zoumana Diarra
Africando
Lura
Mariana Ramos
Swagato

ARGUI  
Harmonia Mundi/Lusafrica/2003

Musically things continue to grow in the "small country" as Cesaria Evora likes to call the Cape Verde islands. Last man out, at least i terms of showing off internationally, is Manuel Lopes Andrade, with the artist name Tcheka. One might place him as a younger musical version of Boy Ge Mendes, more funky, but still working within a modern capeverdean jazz/funk tradition, which again is influenced by funana, morna and like here, a style called batuque. The accoustic guitar stands in the centre of Tcheka's musical concept, backed by piano, flute, bass, drums and percussion. Tcheka and his band are solid musical craftsmen. Especially arrangementwise this flows easily and well balanced. Tcheka's modernised batuque is rather laidback, the sound on the record warm and inviting. What I still miss on this album, are catchy compositions. To my ear these songs end up in a sort of musical no man's land, between something that resembles jazz and something else that resembles pop. The record works best when Tcheka lets go on his guitar. Then he creates lots of nice moods, like for instance in "Pexin pexon" or "Santa". However, one doen't easily get aquainted to "Argui": On one hand much of this music is very well performed instrumentally, on the other hand it seldom really grips you.

NU MONDA  
Harmonia Mundi/Lusafrica

There is a fine musical development from "Argui", from 2003 to the present "Nu Monda". Tcheka stands out a more mature artist, definitely on his way to find his own musical expression. The sound this time goes more in the direction of jazz, which suits Mr Andrade in an excellent manner. The album starts off with the engaging "Agonia". Tcheka trusts his own accoustic guitar work on this album and brings out the melancholic Cape Verdean mood in a modern fashion. He teams up with another guitarist, Hernani Almeida, who has also arranged Tcheka's compositions. A good choice; they work brillantly together and create their own sound, totally guitar based, with Kizo Oliveira on bass and Raul Ribeiro on percussion giving them good support. The style could perhaps be characterized as ethnic jazz, and at their best they make me think of the Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto feel: Laidback, but at the same time filled with passion. Mr. Andrade is perhaps not a great singer, but as a cool and laidback instrument in this jazz setting his voice works very nicely, giving the music a local, poetic dimension.
The album comes with a DVD with a concert recorded in Lisbon in June 2004.
All delicately performed and presented. A pleasant surprise!

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