Culture & Identity

Kultura é un forma di rezisténsia

Cape Verdean culture is rich, diverse and resilient. Shaped by history, geography and the creativity of the people, our culture is an act of affirmation and resistance.

Cape Verdean women have been and continue to be guardians and creators of this culture, preserving traditions, innovating artistic expressions and passing on identity to new generations.

Cultural Expressions

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Kriolu Language

The Kriolu language is the soul of Cape Verdean identity, a symbol of resistance and unity.

Highlights:

History of the languageRegional variantsLiterature in KrioluLinguistic preservation
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Music and Dance

From morna to coladeira, Cape Verdean music is an expression of soul, history and resistance.

Highlights:

MornaColadeiraFunanaBatuko
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Visual Arts

Cape Verdean artists who express identity, struggle and beauty through visual art.

Highlights:

PaintingSculpturePhotographyTraditional arts
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Literature

Cape Verdean writers who tell our stories with an authentic and powerful voice.

Highlights:

PoetryProseTraditional talesNew voices

Women in Cape Verdean Culture

Cesaria Evora

"The Barefoot Diva" - The voice that brought Cape Verde to the world, Cesaria Evora is an eternal symbol of the strength and beauty of Cape Verdean culture.

"Quem ca tem talento, tem fortuna."

Contemporary Voices

Today, countless Cape Verdean artists, writers, musicians and creators continue to enrich and renew the culture, honouring traditions while forging new paths.

Traditions and Celebrations

Carnival

A vibrant celebration of Cape Verdean identity, where music, dance and creativity come together in an explosion of colour and joy.

Pilao

A musical tradition where women create rhythm and harmony while working with the mortar, transforming labour into art.

Gastronomy

Cachupa, canja, pastel com diabo dentro - Cape Verdean cuisine is memory, identity and love served at the table.

Panos de Terra

Traditional Cape Verdean fabrics, symbols of identity and cultural resistance, preserved and reinvented by weavers.

Culture as Resistance

"Preserving our language, celebrating our traditions, creating our art - is to affirm our identity. It is to resist. It is to exist with dignity and pride."

Kultura é un forma di rezisténsia. Kultura é un forma di poder.

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