• country:
  Cape Verde
• style(s):
  Afro Latin
• label:
  Piranha Musik Produktion & Verlag AG
• type:
  Band, Composer/Songwriter
• gender:
  male, female
• instrumentation:
  instrumental, vocal
• artist submitted by:
  Piranha Musik Produktion & Verlag AG

"What makes this band so endearing is its blend of solid songwriting, musical competence and sincerity. Rather than abandon their roots (they all live and work at different jobs on Cape Verde), they re-explore and re-define them, coming up with a sound that reflects the love they have for their culture and their hope for its future. This is all captured here" - Rootsworld



Simentera's leader, Mário Lúcio de Sousa, first picked up a guitar in an army barracks as an eleven year-old soldier. Since then it has rarely left his side. For over a decade now, de Sousa and Simentera - a word that refers to the time of year for planting seeds - have been pursuing their mission to expand the horizons of their country's music. This doesn't mean they've bought a drum machine and a sampler. On the contrary, Simentera play acoustic instruments and they're going forward by rediscovering the hidden element of Cape Verdean music: Africa. In the colonial times, African cultural elements were repressed. Simentera re-establish the connection. "You can find it in the percussion instruments that we introduced", says De Sousa, "and the Batuco and Tabanka rhythms. Also the collective singing. We add choral arrangements to the music we write as if it had always been a part of the islands' music".

Simentera: a collective of dedicated musicians, from all walks of life, making new music in the old way.