Interconnectedness

When Carmen Souza first began playing and recording with her faithful partner, the bassist and producer Theo Pas’cal, their music sounded like a natural and captivating fusion of Cape Verdean roots with a modern jazz twist. Even though this mash-up is still pretty much at the heart of their music, Souza and Pas’cal have practically created a genre of their own and with each new record they test and stretch its limits a little further, whether they are flirting with the work of jazz great Horace Silver or expanding on their connection to Cape Verdean traditional styles.

Given the aftermath of the pandemic, Souza was keen to forge a record that would speak to a humanity interconnected – facing the same problems, albeit dealing with different cultures and values. Musically this translates into a highly diversified album, zooming in on French chanson (‘Sous le Ciel de Paris’), South African jazz (Miriam Makeba's classic ‘Pata Pata’), jazz standards (Nina Simone's precious ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’), slow-burn blues (‘Silver Blues’) and Cape Verdean funaná (‘Gratidon’). As ever, they do it tastefully, swiftly moving through different geographies while making it their own. And it all comes together, as you’d expect, on ‘Interconnectedness’, a masterclass in claiming a global musical citizenship. A great example of a concept that does not trip on its own ambition.