Carmen Souza & Theo Pascal

"Epistola"

Carmen Souza and Theo Pascal come together again after 6 albums to release a new CD called EPISTOLA, recorded in London, Lisbon and New York.

Lineup:  
Carmen Souza - acoustic piano, vocal
Theo Pascal - bass, double bass 
Shane Forbes  - drums
Nathaniel Facey - sax

Trailer Epistola

Carmen Souza

Carmen Souza was born in Lisbon (81) within a Christian family of Cape Verdeans. Very early she experienced the“Sodade” feeling of missing someone with the long absence of her father due to his work at sea. She grew up in amixed language environment of Creole, the Cape Verde dialect her parents spoke at home, and Portuguese, always surrounded by the Cape Verdean way of life. 

In her teens she sang professionally in a Lusophone Gospel Choir. Being a strongly spiritual person, Carmen always saw music as her mission and felt privileged to have the opportunity to express herself through it, working hard every day to deserve that opportunity. Musicians like Luis Morais, Theo Pas'cal, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, NinaSimone, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarret, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Horace Silver, etc, are definitely those that truly inspire her evolution and search for a unique personal style.

Theo Pascal, her producer and mentor and one of the best bass players in Portugal, discovered her talent and introduced Carmen to Jazz, Fusion and other contemporary sounds that markedly influenced her musical development.

In 2003, Carmen began working with Theo on the compositions that would be included on her début album Ess ê nhaCabo Verde. Carmen wanted to create a new sound, in her ancestor’s dialect Creole, that would mix traditional African and Cape Verde rhythms like Batuke, Morna, Cola djon, and others, with her jazz contemporary influences,in a totally intimate and acoustic vibe, different from the traditional festive environment of Cape Verdean sounds. Ess ê nha Cabo Verde, was released two years later in 2005 to critical acclaim and led to her international breakthrough performance at the WOMAD at Reading Festival of the same year.

In Verdade her second album, which se co-produces and features on Wurlitzer and guitar, released in 2008, Carmen Souza signs an exciting and melodically vibrant repertoire in Creole that once again received amazingreviews from the International Press worldwide.

After 2 critically acclaimed albums, Carmen Souza returns in 2010 with the impressive Protegid (Protected) that blends perfectly with elegance and sophistication the African and Cape Verdean traditional rhythms with contemporary jazz and Afro-Latin. Once again the two composers, Carmen Souza and Theo Pascal, present an album that pushes even more the limits of what constitutes the Cape Verdean music, world music and jazz. Carmen co-produces, plays guitar, Rhodes and signs 11 out of the 12 lyrics of the album. In Protegid, Carmen Souza singular vocal approach and courageous musical chooses have earned her pairing with singers like Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Cleo Laine, Eartha Kitt, Marie Daulne. Her unique talent as a singer, composer and musician sets her apart from the female crowded Cape Verdean scene and progressively she is consolidating her own space in the world music/jazz music.
This new album is receiving outstanding reviews from all over the world and the press recognizes that something new is being developed in her music. World Music Central consider the album: “a landmark that will prompt you to embrace and at the same time rethink everything you know and love about the sounds of Cape Verde”, NPR says:“opens a window to another world entirely” and The Independent declares: “the poetic voice is as original as themusical one”.
Protegid also receives a nomination for the German Record Critic’s Award, and enters the WMCE in April. A new edition of Verdade, her second album recently released by Galileo, also enters the WMCE in August and by the end of the year this album was included in several lists of “Best World Music Album 2010”.

Carmen Souza have been touring extensively around the World since 2005 and in 2010 she plays at big stages likeThe North Sea Jazz Festival (NL), London African Music Festival (UK) or the Leverkusener Jazztage Festival (DE). In Leverkusener, Carmen Souza, headlines a double bill with Mariza with an amazing performance later broadcastedby WDR/3SAT German TV. Other concerts were also broadcasted around the world by major TV/Radio Channels like CBC (CA), RDP (PT),RADIO6 (NL), etc, and her uniqueness is recognized by Ethnomusicologists Gerhard Kubik and Fernando Arenas. Acloser look into Carmen Souza groundbreaking work was included in a new book called “Beyond Independence:Globalization, Postcolonialism, and the Cultures of Lusophone Africa” by Fernando Arenas released by theUniversity of Minnesota (USA).

Carmen Souza starts 2011 with a special performance on Italian national television RAI UNO, Concerto DellEpifania, broadcasted to millions in Italy on the Jan 6, a religious holiday and went on a long tour to sold out bigvenues and Festivals and mesmerize audiences and Press in Uk, Brazil, Turkey, Netherlands, Germany, Cape Verde,Latvia, Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Italy, USA, Canada...Special mention to her first Official North American Tour with 14 dates in several states receiving opening honours at San Francisco Jazz Festival and Monterey Jazz Festival and will also perform at Montreal Jazz Festival. Monterey Jazz Festival was broadcasted live and direct at NPR.Another highlight was Carmen Souza first concerts in Cape Verde with full coverage in all national press. The concerts receive great reviews from press and audience and all recognized her special and unique place in the Cape Verdean music culture.

January 2012 was the month to release her first live album, in duo with her long time music partner, Theo Pascal. A live recording that demonstrates why Cape Verdean Carmen Souza has earned a reputation as one of the most exciting talents emerging in the field of "World Music" in recent years...Her style is just as unique as convincing and her Cape Verdean roots as evident as her desire to create a new language under the label of "world jazz.

In September Carmen Souza 4th album Kachupada was released in France and Germany. In France the album entered directly to the official sells Chart for World Music and went number 1 on the Amazon.fr Songwriters bestselling list. In Germany she released the album with a 13 date tour supported by Jazzthetik Magazine and the album was featured as CD of the week in Major Radios and highlighted by National TV. 

Carmen Souza have become a true world music force and one of Europe's most in-demand jazz singers.

“Carmen Souza sings in her native creole dialect with an intimacy, sensuality, and vivacity, characterised by atremendous lightness of touch. Her music has a deceptive simplicity, a rare clarity, derived from a unique mix ofinfluences from her Cape Verdean background to jazz and modern soul creating this beautifully vibrant, largelyacoustic, accessible hybrid. World soul music for the 21st century.” ～ David Sylvian