Cape Verdeans immigrants and descendants of several generations express themselves musically in a complex and diverse way, adopting both “classic” or “traditional”, cosmopolitan or transnational musical genres. The most “classic” genres are musical expressions such as morna, koladera, funaná, batuke or tabanka, and those most transnational are rap, zouk, kizomba, reggae, kuduro or afro-house. The former is often associated with the older generations and the latter with the younger, in particular in the media and common-sense discourses. However, throughout this research, this dual perspective has proved to be more complex. Although there is a tendency to identify specific musical genres according to different age groups or generations, both musical cultures are carried out, at the same time, by youngsters and adults. They are not “back to back”, but they collaborate in an artistic circuit that is constantly updating (and reinventing) their traditions, a way to make sense and give visibility to the Cape Verdean diaspora, integrating it in the host society and combating ethnic-racial stereotype. In this process, music is the privileged place of memory, where feelings and imaginaries invite everyone to think about their origins, their history and their place in the world. Based on an ethnographic research in Cova da Moura and others neighborhoods of the Cape Verdean musical circuit in the metropolitan area of Lisbon, I propose to reflect about collaborative relations between artists belonging to different generations and life styles. The interchanges and mixtures between them, motivated, on one hand, by the sharing of knowledge of new technologies and, on the other hand, by the learning of traditional instruments, have an unparalleled importance for the construction of social and generational identities, showing the centrality of the music for the Cape Verdeans in the diaspora.

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Sociability networks,generational exchanges,people of African descent,Cape Verde,music,Cova da Moura,migration