Morna (music)

Morna
Cultural originsCape Verde

The morna (pronunciation in both Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole: [ˈmɔɾnɐ]) is a music and dance genre from Cape Verde. It was proclaimed Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO[1][2] on December 11, 2019.

Lyrics are usually in Cape Verdean Creole, and instrumentation often includes cavaquinho, clarinet, accordion, violin, piano and guitar.

Morna is widely considered the national music of Cape Verde,[3] as is the fado for Portugal, the tango for Argentina, the merengue for Dominican Republic, the rumba for Cuba, and so on.

The best internationally known morna singer was 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.

  1. ^ "Morna de Cabo Verde proclamada Património Imaterial da Humanidade pela UNESCO". www.cmjornal.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  2. ^ Viegas, Nuno. "A morna já é oficialmente Património Imaterial da Humanidade". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  3. ^ "Singer Cesaria Evora dies at the age of 70", BBC News, 2011-12-17, retrieved 2019-03-08