Brava: Classification of morna as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is the “reaffirmation” of our identity – President of AMIDJABRAVA

The president of the AMIDJABRAVA association, Dave Barros, considered today that the classification of morna as Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO is the “reaffirmation” of Cape Verdean identity.

Speaking to Inforpress, the director of the association pointed out that the release of the record work under the project “Canta Djabraba, Nós Morna Nós Raiz”, made last August, was precisely to promote this genre of traditional Cape Verdean music.

“We made the CD precisely to support the project for the morna to be Intangible Heritage of Humanity, not least because, on the cover of the CD, there is even a written declaration that we were doing the work for this purpose”, stressed the person in charge.

Dave Barros also added that “it was not pure coincidence” to have done work “exclusively” with mornas, explaining that the objective is to launch a work every year, consisting only of mornas.

“Elevating the morna to the category of intangible heritage of humanity is the best news we could hope for. For us, it is something unprecedented, because the morna is a feature of Cape Verdean culture that identifies us as the Creole people that we are”, said Dave Barros, adding that this was a “reaffirmation of our identity”.

About the project, the same source considered that it is having a great impact, having been publicized in Portugal, Cape Verde and the United States.

In Portugal, he informed that in the week of culture, he was chosen by RTP Africa as the CD of the week, and in the United States, last week one of the mornas was awarded the prize for best morna of the year.

To continue the project, he added that a new work is in the works to be released in 2020, but the artist, who guaranteed that the group that will record this work is “named”, did not provide further details.

In addition to the release of the CD, Dave Barros emphasized that he has performed several concerts in different states of North America, always taking the morna.

The CD, made up of ten musical tracks, features singer Assol Garcia, musical director Kim Alves and guitarist Djick D´Oliveira

The association, headquartered in the United States of America, emerged in 1987 and at first supported the island in social aspects, but in recent years it has moved towards the cultural side.

Morna was officially classified this Wednesday afternoon as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with the approval of the dossier, in Bogotá (Colombia), during the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

MC/JMV

Inforpress/end