The origins of the Cape Verdean Funaná may be shrouded in mystery and it may have been seen as a low form of entertainment- peasant music – by the moneyed and travelled few but there is no doubt that the music stirs the soul and livens up any party.

If you are travelling to Cape Verde on holiday you can expect your heart and hips to have a good workout at least once during the trip…

The barefoot diva, Cesaria Evora, was born in Mindelo on Sao Vicente Island in August 1941. Losing her father at a young age, Cesaria was surrendered to an orphanage. It was here that she first sang, but it was when she was sixteen that a young Cape Verdean sailor taught her to appreciate the typical Cape Verdean singing styles of Coladeras and Mornas that she truly found her voice.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=8kSvZJx7v7Q]

The mornas that Cesaria sings can be roughly equated to the Blues. Usually sung in native Creole and encompassing a feeling of yearning, longing, profound sadness and regret, it is said that the term morna is taken from the English ‘to mourn’. It is more likely however that the term is taken from a Portugese word which means ‘tepid’.

The national language of Cape Verde is Portugese. Brush up on a few phrases before you go as on some of the Cape Verde Islands English is not widely spoken although on the main islands you will be fine.

You are much less likely to stumble across a belly buster British breakfast in Cape Verde than you are in say… Tenerife. Tourism has discovered the islands but thankfully not yet engulfed them to that extreme. Instead prepare for an a culinary adventure which will embrace African and  Portugese as well as assorted traces of each of the nationalities blown in by the trade winds over the last four centuries.

Catchupa is perhaps the best known of the Cape Verde national dishes. A stew made from whatever meat or fish is to hand as well as beans and hominy, the actual recipe for this dish will differ from island to island, and house to house and even from meal to meal as the cook uses those ingredients that are to hand to make the most delicious blend.