Carmen Souza
was born into a Cape Verdean family in Lisbon, Portugal on May 20th, 1981. Although Souza has only visited Cape Verde herself a couple of times, she grew up speaking Creole and eating Cape Verdean dishes. As a child, she sang gospel music in the church choir. Her parents kept close ties with the diaspora, so Souza was exposed to the music and culture of Cape Verde, as well as the former Portuguese colonies of Angola, Brazil, Mozambique, and São Tomé. Her father, Antonio, a merchant sailor, insisted that she learn English and German. She left college after only a year to pursue her music career.

In 1999, Souza began working with bassist Theo Pascal, who would become her mentor and continue to perform alongside her. They met when she auditioned for a music project that Pascal was directing. Initially, she performed with him in a Portuguese-language gospel choir. Souza sings and plays the piano and guitar, co-writing songs with Pascal. In 2003, they began experimenting with a style that combined Cape Verde Creole music, including the batuque, coladeira, and morna genres, with contemporary jazz. Souza typically sings in Creole because its variants allow for more flexibility in melding language with different cadences than more formal languages allow. However, she also sings in English, French, and Portuguese. Her voice has been described as “alternately chirpy and grave,” and Africa Today has called her a “soul diva voice.” Souza’s work transforms the traditional Cape Verde morna, adding jazz and personal invention, such as vocal experiments that use her pitch and tone to emulate musical instruments.

In 2005, Souza released her debut album, Ess ê nha Cabo Verde, which was the first West African-jazz blend adapted to an acoustic vibe. Her second release, Verdade (Truth), came in 2008. The album featured the duo’s blend of African and jazz music set to Wurlitzer electric piano and guitar, and won critical acclaim. A re-release of the album in 2010 by Galileo Records was included in several best world music lists for the year. Three years later, they followed up with Protegid (Protected), featuring Cuban pianist Omar Sosa and French accordionist Marc Berthoumieux with Souza on Rhodes piano, guitar, and vocals. Protegid blends Cape Verdean music with traditional jazz and includes updates on jazz standards, such as Horace Silver’s famous tune, Song for my Father. Carmen’s vocal chorus takes note by note Horace Silver’s chorus on the first version of this standard. The album was nominated for the German Record Critic’s Award and earned a ranking on the World Music Charts Europe (WMCE).

In 2012, Souza chose to donate half of the proceeds from her album, Duo (also known as London Acoustic Set), to charity. Most of the album was recorded at the Green Note Club in London with two tracks produced in 2010 at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. All of the tracks had been previously released on her other albums, but all were new, live interpretations. Kachupada, named after a type of Cape Verdean food, was her fifth album and was released the following year. Kachupada includes her version of two jazz classics, “Donna Lee” and “My Favorite Things”. She followed with an album released in 2014 called Live at Lagny Jazz Festival, which features musicians Ben Burrell on piano, Elias Kacomanolis on drums and percussion, and her music partner Pas’cal, playing acoustic and electric bass. Souza’s accolades for the album included “one of the most talented and innovative vocalists in the present-day jazz and world music scene”.