Manuel Lopes Andrade, aka Tcheka, was born on the 20th July 1973 in the por… Read Full Bio ↴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.

Amizadi si
Tcheka Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Amizadi fingidu duem
Amizadi fingidu ta due

Di algem ki sta pa mi
Ah!! Coracon mi fridu
Ah!! Coracon mi friadu
Ah!! Coracon mi sta fridu

Bu mexem nha vida
Bu sta ku mi

Bu mexem nha vida
Bu sta pa mi

Overall Meaning

In Tcheka's song "Amizadi si", the lyrics are in Cape Verdean Creole and talks about fake friendship. The first two lines, "Amizadi fingidu duem/Amizadi fingidu ta due", translate to "Fake friendship hurts me/Fake friendship hurts you". The song's theme is about superficial relationships and how it can impact one's emotional wellbeing, which is highlighted by the next three lines. The repetition of "Ah!! Coracon mi fridu/Ah!! Coracon mi friadu/Ah!! Coracon mi sta fridu" emphasizes the singer's emotional distress, meaning "Ah, my heart is cold/frozen/still cold".

The following two lines, "Bu mexem nha vida/Bu sta ku mi", translate to "You are messing with my life/You are with me". This shows the impact that fake friendships can have on a person's life, and highlights the singer's displeasure with the situation.

Overall, "Amizadi si" is a powerful commentary on the negative impact of fake friendship, and the importance of building deep, meaningful relationships in life.

Line by Line Meaning

Amizadi fingidu duem
Fake friendship hurts us both

Amizadi fingidu ta due
Fake friendship is not worth it

Di algem ki sta pa mi
From someone who is near me

Ah!! Coracon mi fridu
Oh!! My heart is cold

Ah!! Coracon mi friadu
Oh!! My heart is afraid

Ah!! Coracon mi sta fridu
Oh!! My heart is still cold

Bu mexem nha vida
You don't know my life

Bu sta ku mi
You are with me

Bu mexem nha vida
You don't know my life

Bu sta pa mi
You are there for me

Contributed by Alice N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.