Lusafrica, full name: Productions Lusafrica (French for ''Lusafrica Productions'') is a multinational independent record label company based in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. The company was founded in 1988 by José da Silva (born in 1959 in
Praia
Praia (, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.
The company had originally produced records by artists mainly from Cape Verde and other lusophone countries. Since, the company has been recorded by artists from the United States, Cuba, Brazil and France.
History
Debut and success
In 1987, José da Silva (b. 1959 in
Praia
Praia (, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde. During his dinner in Lisbon at the restaurant with Cape Verdean singer Bana, he heard the voice of
Cesária Évora
Cesária Évora GCIH (; 27 August 194117 December 2011) was a Cape Verdean singer known for singing morna, a genre of music from Cape Verde, in her native Cape Verdean Creole. Her songs were often devoted to themes of love, homesickness, nos ...
for the first time and together proposed.
In 1988, Lusafrica was created and recorded the first album '' La Diva aux pieds nus'' which achieved huge success among the Cape Verdean community selling 3,000 vinyl records, notably with the single "Bia Lulucha". The following album '' Distino di Belita'' was recorded together with the Parisian label Mélodie. Cesária Évora attended the
Musiques Métisses
Musiques Métisses is an annual French music festival held in early summer. The festival was created in 1976 by Christian Mousset in Angoulême, France. In 2015, the American author Eddy L.Harris took over as president of the festival.
History ...
concert festival in
Angoulême
Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture.
Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...
, the first to touch a wider audience outside the Cape Verdean community. A year later, '' Mar Azul'' was released and later '' Miss Perfumado'' in 1992 that sold 500,000 copies, it featured the single "
Sodade
"''Sodade''" is a Cape Verdean song written in the 1950s by Armando Zeferino Soares, and best popularized by Cesária Évora on her 1992 album '' Miss Perfumado''. The name is the Cape Verdean Creole variant of the Portuguese term ''saudade''.
T ...
" which became an international success and the label competed with other record label giants including
Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
and
BMG BMG may refer to:
Organizations Music publishing companies
* Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008
** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that was pur ...
.
Along with the success of
Cesária Évora
Cesária Évora GCIH (; 27 August 194117 December 2011) was a Cape Verdean singer known for singing morna, a genre of music from Cape Verde, in her native Cape Verdean Creole. Her songs were often devoted to themes of love, homesickness, nos ...
which won herself a Grammy Award for Best World Music in 2004, Lusafrica produced other artists, the company later lost money in the early 2000s, its catalog became most extensive.
Adaptation
In the early 2000s, José da Silva was forced to reduce the catalog and perform some staff dismissals in Lusafrica.
After
Cesária Évora
Cesária Évora GCIH (; 27 August 194117 December 2011) was a Cape Verdean singer known for singing morna, a genre of music from Cape Verde, in her native Cape Verdean Creole. Her songs were often devoted to themes of love, homesickness, nos ...
died on 17 December 2011, the record company lost some popularity. The label produced no more than four or five albums a year.
As of 2012, Lusafrica produced about 3,000 titles, it established a publishing society Africa Nostra. The label are produced mainly by African artists and artists from other countries including Cuba and Brazil provided the music "tap into the capital of Africa". Cape Verdean artists dominates a solid base including
Tcheka
Tcheka (Manuel Lopes Andrade; born in Ribeira da Barca, Santiago, Cape Verde, on July 20, 1973) is a Cape Verdean singer, songwriter and guitarist, who is well known for his work in transposing the traditional genre batuque to the electro-acoustic ...
,
Teófilo Chantre
Teófilo Chantre (born 1964) is a Cape Verdean musician, first noted for his decades long collaboration with singer Cesaría Évora, and later for his own recordings.
Life
He was born on the island of São Nicolau, growing up with his grandpar ...
Nancy Vieira
Nancy Vieira (born 1975) is a Cape Verdean singer. She was born in Guinea-Bissau and currently resides in Portugal.
Biography
Vieira was born in 1975 in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau to Cape Verdean parents, she later moved to Cape Verde and her fami ...
Meiway
Frederic Desire Ehui , best known as Meiway (born 17 March 1962 in Grand Bassam), is a singer from the Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast ...
DJ Arafat
Ange Didier Houon (26 January 1986 – 12 August 2019), known professionally as DJ Arafat and various other stage names, was an Ivorian disc jockey and singer who made music in the Coupé-Décalé genre. The word "coupé-décalé" came from a ...
and Bonga Kuenda. The label is also related to Sony for the distribution of some discs.
Artists
*
Elida Almeida
Elida Almeida (born 1993) is a Cape Verdean singer.
Biography
Elida Sofia Cabral Almeida was born in Pedra Badejo in the east of Santiago Island. She spent her childhood years with some difficulty, in the mountains of Santiago. At 17, she san ...
(since 2016)
*
Dj Arafat
Ange Didier Houon (26 January 1986 – 12 August 2019), known professionally as DJ Arafat and various other stage names, was an Ivorian disc jockey and singer who made music in the Coupé-Décalé genre. The word "coupé-décalé" came from a ...
Issac Delgado
Issac Delgado (born Isaac Felipe Delgado-Ramirez on April 11, 1962 in Marianao, Habana, Cuba) is one of the founders of the band NG La Banda and is a popular salsa and timba performer.
Early life and family
His father, Luis Delgado, was a ta ...
*
Cesária Évora
Cesária Évora GCIH (; 27 August 194117 December 2011) was a Cape Verdean singer known for singing morna, a genre of music from Cape Verde, in her native Cape Verdean Creole. Her songs were often devoted to themes of love, homesickness, nos ...
*
Fantcha
Fantcha (born Francelina Durão Almeida on October 14, 1956) is a Cape Verdean singer.
Biography
Fantcha was born as Francelina Durão Almeida in chã De Alecrim on São Vicente, Cape Verde, São Vicente Island, Cape Verde. She grew up singin ...
King Kester Emeneya
Jean Baptiste Emeneya Mubiala Kwamambu (November 23, 1956 – February 13, 2014) was a Congolese singer.
Early life
Jean was born in Kikwit within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While attending the University of Lubumbashi as a political ...
Jacky Brown
Jacky Teixeira (born 17 August 1975), known as Jacky Brown, is a French rapper, singer and presenter of the band Nèg' Marrons, of Cape Verdean origin. He is a member of the group La MC-Mal Criado
and
Stomy Bugsy
Gilles Duarte (; born 21 May 1972), better known by his stage name Stomy Bugsy, is a French rapper and actor from Sarcelles, France.
Biography
Born in Paris on 21 May 1972 from Republic of Cape Verde, Duarte co-founded hip hop band Ministère ...
Meiway
Frederic Desire Ehui , best known as Meiway (born 17 March 1962 in Grand Bassam), is a singer from the Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast ...
*
Mirri Lobo
Mirri Lobo (born May 22, 1960) is a Cape Verdean singer, musician, composer and producer.
Biography
Mirri Lobo was born Emilio Rito de Sousa Lobo in the village of Pedra de Lume in the island of Sal to Emílio de Sousa Lobo and Cacilda Brito d ...
Orquesta Aragón
Orquesta Aragón is a Cuban musical band formed on 30 September 1939, by Orestes Aragón Cantero in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The band originally had the name ''Ritmica 39'', then ''Ritmica Aragón'' before settling on its final form. Though they did not ...
*
Tito Paris
Tito Paris (born Aristides Paris 30 May 1963) is a Cape Verdean singer and musician (mainly guitar and bass). Aged 19, he moved to Portugal. Lisbon continues to be his home town.
Biography
He was born in Mindelo on the island of São Vicente to ...
Polo Montañez
Polo Montañez (June 5, 1955 – November 26, 2002) was a Cuban singer and songwriter.
Early life
Montañez was born Fernando Borrego Linares in Sierra del Rosario mountain range, on a farm known as ''El Brujito'' within the Candelaria municipal ...
*
Sally Nyolo
Born in the Lekié region of Cameroon in 1965, Sally Nyolo left her homeland at the age of 13 to settle in Paris where she has lived since. Nyolo started her professional career in 1982, first as a backup-singer working with numerous French and Afr ...
Septeto Habanero
A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry ...
*
Simentera
Simentera were a Capeverdean band or a music group performing traditional and world music and was one of the most famous groups in Cape Verde.
History
The band was founded in 1992. Two years after the foundation, they appeared at the 1994 Sfink ...
Djelimady Tounkara
Djelimady Tounkara is a Malian musician and one of the foremost guitarists in Africa.
Life and career
Born in the culturally rich town of Kita, west of the Malian capital, Bamako, Djelimady grew up surrounded with traditional music played by memb ...
*
Nancy Vieira
Nancy Vieira (born 1975) is a Cape Verdean singer. She was born in Guinea-Bissau and currently resides in Portugal.
Biography
Vieira was born in 1975 in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau to Cape Verdean parents, she later moved to Cape Verde and her fami ...