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.
Sabu
Tcheka Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
(Ma) bentu Ruibaz
Leba-m balai di mama
Manhan ten trabadju la na txada
Na kuzê ki N ta leba pa pai kume
Sabu di Tina bu (leba-m) manda-m kaza
Sabu nhôs leba-m, N ta bai simê
Sabu Tina leba-m kaza
Mi dja noti
The lyrics to Tcheka's song Sabu talk about the singer's longing for home and the memories associated with it. The first verse talks about Sabu, a person/place that the singer is addressing, who lives in the village of Gantxenba. The singer requests Sabu to tell Bentu Ruibaz, a friend perhaps, to give his regards to his mother.
The second verse talks about the singer's current situation, where he is working in the fields and thinking about his father's land where he used to work. The line "Na kuzê ki N ta leba pa pai kume" translates to "While I'm tilling the fields, I remember the land of my father". The singer is reminiscing about the comfort and familiarity of his father's land.
The song continues with the chorus, where the singer remembers the times when Tina (perhaps a love interest) would tell the singer to come visit her at her place. Now, however, the singer is far away from home, and he just misses the memories of being there.
Overall, the song is a reflection on the feeling of homesickness and the longing for familiarity and memories associated with home.
Line by Line Meaning
Sabu manda-m Gantxenba
Sabu, my beloved village of Gantxenba
(Ma) bentu Ruibaz
Where I own a piece of land called Ruibaz
Leba-m balai di mama
My house smells of my mother's cooking
Manhan ten trabadju la na txada
Every morning, I work in the fields
Na kuzê ki N ta leba pa pai kume
Until I have enough to feed myself
Sabu di Tina bu (leba-m) manda-m kaza
Sabu, you asked me to build you a house
Mosinhus la na kaza dja ruma na mi
I hear whispers at night that the house is haunted
Sabu nhôs leba-m, N ta bai simê
But I promise you, Sabu, I will make it beautiful
Sabu Tina leba-m kaza
Sabu, you asked me to build you a house
Mi dja noti
And I am doing it now
Contributed by Cooper O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.