Saturday, 4 March 2017

The Story of Bitori

If you want the full story of Bitori you will need to go to elsewhere - I'll give you a clue, it's here. In brief, Bitori is an accordion player from the Cape Verde islands. He is a master of "funana", a musical style which has been around forever but was frowned on by polite society in Praia as being a bit common. The upshot was that, despite being a popular live act for decades, he didn't have a chance to record until the late 1990s by which time he was nearly 60.

Him and his band are still going strong - in fact, I'm hoping to see them at a festival in July - and those 1990s recordings were re-released on a CD called "Legend of Funana". Here are a couple of samples.

"Munana" - Bitori

"Natalia" - Bitori

Here's another Natalia for you. At least I assume it isn't the same Natalia.
 

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