Morna (music)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The morna is a music and dance genre from Cape Verde.
Lyrics are usually in Cape Verdean Creole, and instrumentation often includes cavaquinho, clarinet, accordion, violin, piano and guitar. Morna is often compared to the blues; there is little research on the relationship between the genres, though there are interesting similarities and significant cultural connections between Cape Verde and the United States. Morna is widely considered the national music of Cape Verde, as is the fado for Portugal, the tango for Argentina, the rumba for Cuba, and so on.
The best internationally known morna singer is Cesária Évora. Morna and other genres of Cape Verdean music are also played in Cape Verdean migrant communities abroad, especially in New England in the US, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, West Africa and parts of Latin America.