Living in Lisbon, Tito Paris has been an active participant in the emergenc… Read Full Bio ↴Living in Lisbon, Tito Paris has been an active participant in the emergence of Cape Verde music. A fine guitarist, songwriter and singer with a sunny swing, he carries the joyful or melancholy of Cape Verde music everywhere.

When Cesária Évora recorded her first album, Tito Paris was there. He wrote a song for her ('Regresso'), conceived arrangements and played numerous instruments. This was a step, a memorable moment, but not the beginning. His history and involvement in music go back way before that-in fact, to the very day of his birth (30th May 1963) in Mindelo, the principal city on the island of São Vicente. When you're born into a family where everyone is somewhat musical, it's hard to escape music.

Not having any more resistance than the next guy, Tito Paris also succumbed. He had music in his heart as much as in his soul. If he strolls down memory lane, he remembers his escapades in bars, unbeknownst to his mother, taking advantage of his father's absences. Tito was always dragging around his guitar on which his sister had taught him a first chord.

He played with his brothers and cousin Bau, already quite skilful on the cavaquinho and who would also become famous later on. He profited from the advice, know-how and acquaintances of the clarinettist Luis Morais and the pianist Chico Serra. After the night clubs, cafés and cabarets of Mindelo, Tito Paris was going to be born a second time.

At the age of 19, he left for Lisbon, summoned by Bana, a great Cape Verdean singer who had settled there and who brought him to Portugal to play in his group, Voz de Cabo Verde. From that moment on, with his head full of dreams, Tito Paris began his great adventure. It began with a brief disappointment: he thought he was going to play bass, but was offered drums.

He was on the point of giving up and even going back to Cape Verde, when chance smiled on him. The bass player left, and Tito was able to take his place. Four years passed, and he decided it was time to leave Voz de Cabo Verde, with which he had grown up musically, thanks in particular to Paulinho Viera.

He became one of the most prominent names on the Cape Verde scene in Lisbon, as well as one of the most sought-after musicians, accompanying the finest, like Dany Silva, who encouraged him to take up the guitar definitively. He would also be seen collaborating with numerous Portuguese artists, including Rui Veloso.

In 1985, he produced his first album. This was solely instrumental record and focussed the spotlight on his talents as a guitarist. He formed his own group and, in 1994, recorded Dança mi criola, by which he made himself known throughout the Cape Verde community.

It also became, and has remained, up to the present day, his favourite song, the one everyone requests in concert. In Lisbon, he frequently performed in the cellar of the Enclave, his restaurant-club, or at B. Leza, another meeting place of the African community in the capital. This disc was followed by Graça de Tchega in 1996, then two live albums, including 27 de Julio 1990, which was released last year.

Between these various recordingshis travels took him from Oslo to New York and from Louisiana to Paris.

Guilhermina, the new album, prolongs the pleasure of the previous ones or, even better, magnifies it and gives it wings. Here, gorged with the blues, his voice asserts itself, present and instinctive, while the guitar displays an eloquence ever more fascinating. From inexpressible melancholy to coarse hip-swaying, with large traits of sadness and fruited scents.

All of that is to be found in Guilhermina, i.e., mornas tinged with saudade, that sorrowful serenity, that nostalgia that constantly imbues Cape Verdean music, but also coladeiras and funana, joyous propositions and temptations to dance. Tito Paris adapts these emblematic styles of Cape Verde in his own fashion.

Accompanied by his regular group, joined by numerous guests artists and a string quartet, he slows down or speeds up the rhythm, here introducing an Angolan rhythm, there another from northern Portugal, making a detour by Mozambique or evoking the samba of Brazil.

Although he is anxious to preserve the singularity, the Creole genius and the tradition of the music of Cape Verde, Tito Paris, an enthusiastic volunteer ambassador of the musical soul of his country, also knows how to open doors and windows and build bridges. He invents without ever forgetting where he comes from.

Ondas Di Bô Corpo
Tito Paris Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Na ondas di bô corpo 'm novegá k'nha mom
Na água di bôs beijo bô mata'm nha sede
Na luz di bôs olhar bô lumia'm caminho
'M abrigá nha'amor ness paraíso
Sodade invadi'm na peito
Sem consolo sem sossêgo sem um sonho
Sodade invadi'm na peito
Sem consolo sem sossêgo sem um sonho

Ma pa mim um certeza

Bô é nha rainha
Óh mulata cabverdiana

Overall Meaning

Tito Paris's song Ondas Di Bô Corpo is a beautiful love song that talks about the powerful emotions and sensations that love can stir up in us. The lyrics describe the singer's feelings as he navigates the waves of his lover's body, quenches his thirst in the waters of her kisses, and finds his way in the light of her gaze. He feels like he's in paradise, surrounded by her love, but at the same time, he's overwhelmed by the longing and sadness that invade his heart. Despite this, he's certain that his lover is his queen, a beautiful Cape Verdean woman who has captured his heart.

The song's imagery is sensual and evokes the beauty and power of love. The waves of the lover's body represent the physical pleasure that love can bring, while the water of her kisses quenches the singer's thirst, both physical and emotional. The light in her gaze illuminates his path and guides him in his love journey. The sadness and longing that invade the singer's heart represent the pain of separation and the yearning for true love.

Overall, Ondas Di Bô Corpo is a beautiful tribute to the power of love and the intensity of the emotions it can evoke. The lyrics capture the beauty and sensuality of love and the pain and longing that can come with it, making it a powerful and moving love song.

Line by Line Meaning

Na ondas di bô corpo 'm novegá k'nha mom
I navigate in the waves of your body like my motherland

Na água di bôs beijo bô mata'm nha sede
Your kisses quench my thirst like water

Na luz di bôs olhar bô lumia'm caminho
The light in your eyes illuminates my path

'M abrigá nha'amor ness paraíso
I find refuge in your love in this paradise

Sodade invadi'm na peito
Saudade invades my heart

Sem consolo sem sossêgo sem um sonho
Without comfort, without peace, without a dream

Sodade invadi'm na peito
Saudade invades my heart

Sem consolo sem sossêgo sem um sonho
Without comfort, without peace, without a dream

Ma pa mim um certeza
But for me a certainty

Bô é nha rainha
You are my queen

Óh mulata cabverdiana
Oh Cabo Verdean mulatto