Batuku: sambuna and finason

Written by Olav Aalberg: badiu "at" tabanka.no

Updated January 2009

 

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Batuku dancers on the Capeverdean women´s day                     Nha Nacia Gomi, queen of batuku

Batuku, sambuna, and finacon
Batuku originated on the island of Santiago and is the expression of the people´s collective memory and identity,
developed after work in the fields at improvised gatherings and community festivities. Batuku is basically a female activitiy.

In batuku, women strike (often polyrhythmically) the txabeta, a bale of cloth (see my article on pano)  rolled up and squeezed between
the knees. Batuku is divided into sambuna and finason. In the sambuna, rythm prevails over lyrics, and there is dancing to it.

Batuku on the web

Traditional batuku:

• Listen, and see batuku
• Po di terra - Mulata  from Pó di terra´s CD: "Triste sta na rua".
• Santa Nha fidjo fémia (My daughter)

• Bem pa manxi - Banana ka di benda (banana is not for sale) - plain batuku, "terra-terra"!

• Ntoni Denti d'Ouro talking and playing his batuku, finason and sanbunas - pure pleasure. See this, and you will know how art can transform your life!
  One more batuku with my favourite

• Zeca di Nha Reinalda Nha Mudjer  from his CD "Dia-dia". A synth-pestered batuku, which is a shame, as the song itself is quite nice, I have heard it performed better by Vadú, Zeca´s nephew

•  João Cirilo and his "´Pó di terra" was probably the first to play batuku, using a modern set-up, with synth. Of course, we find Paulino Vieira behind, as we do on the record of António Sanches, an early funana-electric performer.

Read about cimboa - the one-stringed fiddle accompanying batuku sessions

In finason the singers improvise words according to a predefined theme, which may be related to the audience and circumstances, but a certain structure is obeyed. Today, N´toni denti d´Oro a man in his late seventies, is one of the last persons alive who knows how to do it.
As the style requires 4, 6 or 8 lead singers, each improvising 10 phrases on a predefined theme, it is no more to be heard in its proper form.
There are other ideas on the structure of these rythms, for example Tomé Varela da Silva, in his rather unique documentation of three of the most acknowledged batukaderas, Nha Gida Mendi, Nha Bibinha Cabral, and Nha Nacia Gomi. 
Da Silva does not mention the necessity of several singers to perform a proper finason, but he does, however, describe a session, where two singers sing ”together”.
These books are difficult to come by, not to mention read, as they are all written in Santiago style kriolo.. But - hey, what better reason to finally learn Kriolu?

CDs presenting traditional batuku 

Grupo Boa esperança	Mondon	Sons d´ Àfrica	00296-2	2000?
Nacia Gomi	Nacia Gomi cu sê mocìnhos	Sons d´`Africa	285	1999	The queen herself
Nacia Gomi & Ntóni Denti d´Oro	Fínkadu na Raíz	AV produções	-	2005	Recorded and mixed at Kapital studios, Praia, Cape Verde
Nhamita Pereira	Pachêncha!!! Agù na labada kôbi ta sèca	Atlantic Music	AM 2219-99-05-27	1999	I am told Nhamita died a few years ago..
Nhamita Pereira	Batuque et Finaçon	Ocora	C 560151	2001	Recorded in Holland. Nhamita died shorlty after these recordings.
Ntóni Denti d´Oro	Batuque et Finaçon	Ocora Radio France	C 560132	-98	The only male batukadero I have ever heard of. A great record by a most fascinating man!! Listen to the cimboa!
Pó di terra	Triste sta na rua	Gold Music productions	CD_111	2005	Batukaderas from Chão bom, outside Tarrafal. That is also where the Salazar regime´s concentration camp is situated
Various artists	Cabo Verde Dez granzin di tera	Tradisom	VS11	1998	From the Expo 98 participation
Various artists	Music from Cape Verde	Caprice Records	Cap 21451	1994	(Nacia Gomi)
Various artists	Cape Verde an archipelago of music	Ocora	C 560146/47	1999
Xubenga	Terrero	Lusafica	02303-2	2000	Elegantly including electric guitar, saxophone, clavier. A good start for people not yet accustomed to batuku. My favourite!

 

CDs presenting batuku using modern instruments

Nha Minininha	Rainha di batuku	MR Music Pro		2000	Traditional song, but heavy instrumentation. I like it, though.
Orlando Pantera	Orlando Pantera	bootleg material		2000?	pirate recordings 2 CDs by the late talented creator of the new “batuku wave”
Various artists	Ayan	Praia Records	Praia001CD	2002	Princezito, Djingo, Vadu, Tcheka
João Cirilo	Pô di Terra		LP	198?	this is one of the first examples of the generation of post-independence musicians
Tcheka	Argui	Lusafrica		2003
Vadú	Nha Raís	Praia Records	Praia CD002	2005	Vadú is nephew of the famous singer in the great Bulimundo and Finaçon bands

 

Want to read more?
The following books give an in depth knowledge of the batuku tradition. You need no more excuses to learn kriolo, French, and Portuguese!

Hurley-Glowa, Susan Margaret	Batuko and Funana: Musical Traditions of Santiago, Republic of Cape Verde	Unpublished thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Brown University	1997	Well written, and the most complete description in English of this tradition
Monteiro, Vladimir	Les musiques du Cap-Cert	Chandeigne 2-906462-48-9	1998
Osório, Oswaldo	Cantigas de trabalho. Tradições orais de Cabo Verde		1980	incl. single w/author singing trad . songs.
Silva, Tome  Varela da	Finasons di Ña Nasia Gomi	ICL	1985
Silva, Tome  Varela da	Konparason di konbérsu (1 280 ditadu y senténsa tradisional)	ICL	1997	oral tradition
Silva, Tome Varela da	Ña Bibiña Kabral - bida y óbra   An article probably based on this book is published here	ICL	1988	Bibiña died some years ago.
Silva, Tome Varela da	Ña Gida Mendi - simenti di onti na ^con di mañan	ICL	1983	Born ca. 1897, this woman sang in the probably oldest way ever recorded
Silva, Tome Varela da	Tenpu di tenpu (1.168 dibiña tradisional Vol. I	ICL	1992
Vasconcellos, Ernesto J. De C. E	Archipelago de Cabo Verde Estudo elementar de geographia phisica, economica e politica	Centro Typographico Colonial, Lisboa	1916	Interesting early notes on music and dance. A few pages now available as pdf document on: http://home.no/caboverde/Vasconcellos_100-123.pdf

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