Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Minister of Culture and Creative Industries, Abraão Vicente, considered today that the National Day of Culture and Communities is a day of Cape Verdean identity “which has been created and is being built more and more”.
Portugal: National Culture Day is the day of Cape Verdean identity – minister Abraão Vicente
The statement was made in statements to Inforpress, in Lisbon, on this National Day of Culture and Communities, this year with the central act of the celebrations at the Cabo Verde Cultural Center (CCCV), with the motto “We are culture”.
“May National Culture Day serve, not only to exalt traditional Cape Verdean culture, but to exalt the new profile of Cape Verdean men and women. National Culture Day is not just the day of literary culture or musical culture. It is the day of Cape Verdean identity that has been created and is being built more and more”, declared the minister.
According to the official, it is because of these new dynamics that the Ministry of Culture decided to hold this first ceremony, outside the country, celebrating the 18th of October, “to show the diaspora that they are part of the nation and that being part of the nation is recognize that those who live outside the country are the country”.
“The Creole nation is the gateway to this new generation of Cape Verdeans (…). Either we stop being conservative with what Cape Verdean culture is, or we lose the great opportunity for Cape Verdean creative industries to have dimension and scale. Cape Verde has changed through the diaspora”, he considered.
Regarding the motto “We are culture” to mark the National Day of Culture and Communities, Abraão Vicente explained that the choice comes from the idea of affirming a cultural identity and not forgetting that Cape Verde created itself as a country, as a homeland and as a nation, through cultural affirmation, that is, through literature, music or crafts.
“Above all, a nation of culture, because through music, Cape Verde made itself known, through Cesária Évora (…). We are not yet as well-known a country as we often think we are. There is a lot of work to do, but we are known through culture, through the music of Cesária Évora, but also Mayra Andrade, Tcheka, Lura and other names in Cape Verdean literature, such as Germano Almeida”, he indicated.
For the minister, to have a culture on the big stages it is necessary to have greater availability of funds, but also to have a better organized private sector linked to the creative industries.
“No matter how much the minister says that more funding is needed for culture, there is clearly a need to prioritize what is basic for the population,” he said, maintaining that in recent years the Ministry of Culture has received the largest amount consecutively from the Budget of the State (OE), which for 2024 will be a share of 6%, but recalled that “there is no national deputy who defends culture, but they have already done so to increase their subsidies”.
The celebration session today in Lisbon, to be chaired by minister Abraão Vicente, will also feature the intervention of the ambassador of Cape Verde, in Lisbon, Eurico Monteiro.
A “Kolá San Jon” parade, a performance by the “Voz di terra” choir, presentation of 2nd Degree Cultural Merit medals to personalities of Cape Verdean culture, a performance by the “Finka pé” batucadeiras and a musical presentation “New sounds of the community ”, curated by Dino d’Santiago, are the activities that will be part of the celebrations in Lisbon.
In addition to Lisbon, several activities have already taken place or are taking place all over the islands in Cape Verde to mark the National Day of Culture and Communities, established in October 2005, with the aim of celebrating Cape Verdean culture , like their communities.
The date honors the birth of one of the greatest writers in the history of Cape Verde, the poet Eugénio de Paula Tavares, who died at the age of 63 in Vila Nova Sintra, Brava Island, on June 1, 1930.
In Cape Verde, culture month will be celebrated throughout the country with various activities and cultural events.
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