Africa-Press – Cape verde. The “musical and emotional legacy” of Cape Verdean musician Orlando Pantera, who died in 2001, is remembered in a documentary by Catarina Alves Costa, which premiered this Thursday in Portuguese cinemas.
The film is presented as “an intimate portrait of a man who gave voice to the soul of his people — a father, a creator and a symbol of Cape Verdean identity,” having received two awards in May at the IndieLisboa festival: the audience award and the award for best film in the “IndieMusic” section.
At the time of the premiere of “Orlando Pantera” at IndieLisboa, Catarina Alves Costa told Lusa that she began thinking about this project in 2000, when she met the musician (baptized Orlando Monteiro Barreto) in Cape Verde, on the sidelines of another documentary project about Cape Verdean theatrical creation.
The director filmed and collected various materials about the musician, but they were never used until, years later, Orlando Pantera’s only daughter, Darlene Barreto, challenged her to make a documentary.
With a narrative guided by Darlene Barreto, the film brings together various archives, notably from the musician’s family, and includes footage of Orlando Pantera singing and also of other people interpreting his songs.
For Catarina Alves Costa, Orlando Pantera (1967-2001) “changed, in a way, the paradigm of Cape Verdean music, by seeking out the most traditional rhythms, mainly the instruments of the ‘tabanka’, the conch shell, the drum, the batuque”, essentially “the most African origins”.
“Orlando Pantera” arrives in Portuguese cinemas after having already been shown in Cape Verde, at the Portuguese Cultural Center in Praia.
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