Salt: Preserving the Musical Traditions of an Impoverished People

The first time I heard the music of Cesária Évora, I knew that I had to follow it to the source. That was in 1997. Three years later, I was on my way to Cape Verde, armed with a portable DAT recorder, a camera, and a smile. The moment I landed in Sal and walked across the tarmac, I understood what the music was all about. The isolation, the longing, the poverty, the songs of lost love, the joy of family — it made sense all of a sudden; it was palpable in the warm September air. I felt like I had come home.

I met incredibly talented musicians, none of whom had any formal training and most of whom did not own musical instruments. I met beautiful, friendly people, resigned to a life of poverty. Despite their hardships, however, they displayed immense resilience and an unmatched richness in spirit. I met very intelligent children who ran on the beach all day because they had nothing else to do. No books, no computers, no organized activities.

How could it be that such gifted musicians did not have the tools of their trade? What would happen to their musical traditions that had been passed down for generations? How could it be that these children had no guidance in their formative years? What future would they have in an environment being over-run by beach resorts and expatriate communities?

I spent an amazing month on the islands, getting to know the people and their customs. It was all so familiar to me in a way that can't be explained. In a short amount of time I developed friendships that will last a lifetime. I left with great recordings, photographs, and a bigger smile. I also made a promise to my friends — to José, to Magno, to Evaristo, to Adriano, to Nelson, to Leina, to Iza, to Zeca, to Miguel — that I would do everything I could to help them get a leg up.

Since that first trip, I've returned three more times, most recently in November, 2004. Over the years I've seen the Cape Verdeans become increasingly marginalized as foreign corporations build beach resorts on the islands with little benefits for the locals. There is little interaction between tourists and the local population, and what could be a rich cultural experience turns invariably into isolation on private beaches. I have been working with Nelson Evora, the elected government representative responsible for culture, on creating a vision that benefits his constituents beyond his term in office.

Visit the Salt website: http://salt.nimekula.org

Biography

Johnny Fernandes was born in Zimbabwe in 1965. He spent the first ten years of his life in Mozambique until the civil war there forced him to return to Zimbabwe. He came to America in 1985 where he completed a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Computer Science at Gonzaga University and Western Washington University respectively.

Johnny worked in the high-tech industry for 15 years before committing himself fulltime to social issues. Besides Salt, he is also currently helping AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe with a project called A Wall for Social Consciousness. Johnny Fernandes resides part of the year in Seattle.