Candida Rose Baptista Performance & Lecture

Candida Rose Baptista is a 2nd generation, Cape Verdean American, born and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the cradle of Cape Verdean American history. She is a vocalist, entertainer, songwriter, educator, mother and author. 

The focus of Candida's program will be on her new book, KabuMerikanus – The Sum of US: Exploring The Cabo Verde – United States Musical Connection and Legacy.

Although immigrants from Cabo Verde left their homeland in search of a more sustainable life elsewhere, especially in New England, they never forgot where they came from and in turn, did not allow their children and grandchildren to forget either. In fact, connections to and from Cabo Verde and its communities living in the Diaspora, including the United States, have existed from the beginning. As Raymond Almeida has noted, “For Cape Verdeans, transnationalism has been a way of life since the 15th century" (Almeida, 1995:18).

Cape Verdeans kept ties to the homeland in many ways, including through folkloric and popular music, which developed into a transnational cultural field that came to unify Cape Verdeans on both sides of the Atlantic. KabuMerikanus - The Sum of US examines the processes that allowed Cape Verdeans to establish and maintain their cultural – and especially musical – heritage in North America, with a particular focus on New England in the early to mid-20th century. This book explains the embeddedness of traditional music in the daily life of immigrant communities, both in the past and present; illuminates novel contributions of Cape Verdeans and Cape Verdean-Americans to the U.S. musical landscape; and highlights transnational connections that are still evident within today’s musical community.