The 8th edition of the Atlantic Music Expo festival, in Cape Verde, begins its second part, in the capital Praia, after Mindelo. All the concerts, bringing together artists from the Atlantic arc, are free and take place in working-class neighborhoods, where Mamadou Sulabanku, a griot singer originally from Senegal, who has lived in Mindelo for 20 years, performs.
A land of exile, Cape Verde has become a home port: came for a concert, Mamadou Sulabanku never left. Mindelo has become his stronghold, between Creole, Wolof and Spanish (his partner’s language), he has become Cape Verdean over time.
” Really, I say thank you to Cape Verde, because it gives me much, much more even than Senegal. Really my second home is Cape Verde. »
Originally from Dakar, Mamadou Sulabanku grew up in the district of Grand Yoff. If he founded a family in Cape Verde and passed on his traditions, his griot knowledge and his language to his son, in the land of saudade (nostalgia), he misses his native land. ” The father, the mother, everyone was born there, how people lived, in short, a lot of saudade. »
Discreet, dignified, almost shy when you meet him in the streets of Mindelo, Mamadou Sulabanku shines on stage. And this griot keeps a keen eye on the political life of the African continent, on the shortcomings of political actors in particular: “ The presidents and prime ministers who govern us, really, there are times when it’s sad all the same, it’s shameful “.