Carmen Souza was born in Lisbon in 1981 into a Christian family of Cape Verdean origin. From an early age, she experienced sodade—the deep sense of longing central to Cape Verdean culture—shaped by her father’s long absences while working at sea. Growing up between Creole, spoken at home, and Portuguese, and surrounded by Cape Verdean traditions, this bicultural and multilingual upbringing profoundly influenced her music and artistic identity.
As a teenager, Souza met her producer and mentor Theo Pascal, one of Portugal’s most respected bass players. Recognising her talent, Pascal introduced her to jazz and contemporary music, laying the foundation for a long-lasting creative partnership. Influenced by artists such as Horace Silver, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, and Joe Zawinul, Souza began shaping a distinctive sound rooted in Cape Verdean tradition and modern jazz.
In 2003, Souza and Pascal embarked on their first musical journey together, composing the material for her debut album, Ess ê nha Cabo Verde, released in 2005. Blending African and Cape Verdean rhythms with contemporary jazz, the album’s intimate acoustic sound earned critical acclaim and led to her international breakthrough performance at the WOMAD Festival in Reading (UK).
Her second album, Verdade (2008), which Souza co-produced and on which she also played Wurlitzer and guitar, further established her as a compelling composer and interpreter. The album’s melodically rich Creole repertoire received outstanding reviews from the international press.
In 2010, Souza released Protegid, her first album with Galileo Music, marking the beginning of a long-standing collaboration with the German label. Co-produced with Pascal, the album seamlessly blends Cape Verdean and African rhythms with contemporary jazz and Afro-Latin elements. Souza sang 11 of the 12 tracks and played guitar and Rhodes, pushing the boundaries of Cape Verdean music, jazz, and world music alike.
Protegid earned comparisons to iconic vocalists such as Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Cleo Laine, Eartha Kitt, and Marie Daulne. World Music Central called it “a landmark,” NPR wrote that it “opens a window to another world entirely,” and The Independent praised its poetic originality. The album was nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award, entered the World Music Charts Europe, appeared on Grammy pre-nomination lists, and featured in numerous “Best of 2010” rankings.
Since 2005, Carmen Souza has toured extensively worldwide, appearing at major festivals such as North Sea Jazz Festival, London African Music Festival, and Leverkusener Jazztage, where she headlined alongside Mariza. Her performances have been broadcast by major international TV and radio networks, including CBC, NPR, RTP, and Radio 6.
Her work has drawn scholarly attention as well. Ethnomusicologist Fernando Arenas highlighted her music in Beyond Independence: Globalization, Postcolonialism, and the Cultures of Lusophone Africa (University of Minnesota Press), and Gerhard Kubik later devoted a chapter to Souza and Pascal in Jazz Transatlantic, Volume II.
In 2011, Souza performed on Italian national television (RAI UNO) at the Concerto dell’Epifania, followed by extensive touring across Europe, the Americas, Africa, and beyond. Her first official North American tour included appearances at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, and Montreal Jazz Festival, with her Monterey performance streamed live by NPR for the first time in the festival’s history.
Her first concerts in Cape Verde were met with widespread acclaim and affirmed her unique place within the country’s musical culture. As A Semana wrote, she “cloaks Cape Verdean music in new garb… opening new paths for the evolution of morna and funaná.”
In 2012, Souza and Pascal released London Acoustic Set, their first live album, recorded in duo format. Half of the album’s proceeds were donated to SOS Children’s Villages in Cape Verde and UNICEF Brazil.
Her fourth studio album, Kachupada (2013), achieved major international success, topping Amazon France’s Songwriters list, receiving top ratings from Télérama, and earning extensive radio and press support. That same year, Souza won Best Female Singer and Best Morna at the Cape Verde Music Awards, and was recognized as one of the artists carrying forward the legacy of Cesária Évora.
In 2014, Live at Lagny Jazz Festival was released as a CD/DVD and nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award, followed by a 65-concert world tour.
Epistola (2015) was showcased at Jazzahead!, Europe’s leading jazz conference, and praised across Europe for its originality and depth. The subsequent tour spanned 19 countries and culminated in a nomination for Best African Jazz at the AFRIMA Awards.
With Creology (2017), Souza returned to her Creole roots, earning critical acclaim and embarking on a tour of over 100 concerts worldwide. That same year, the Government of Cape Verde awarded her the Silver Medal for Cultural Merit in recognition of her contribution to national culture.
In 2019, Souza released The Silver Messengers, a tribute to Horace Silver that re-examines his repertoire through a Cape Verdean and Lusophone lens. The album received four-star reviews from DownBeat and Songlines, topped international charts, and became a long-term project dedicated to preserving and reimagining Silver’s legacy.
Her tenth album, Interconnectedness (2022), was widely acclaimed and followed by sold-out concerts, including her debut performance at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London.
In September 2024, Souza released Port’Inglês, inspired by her academic research on British influence in Cape Verde. The album charted highly across Europe, earning praise for its fresh and accomplished fusion of traditional Cape Verdean rhythms and jazz.
Port’Inglês is both a musical journey and an act of cultural memory. It reflects Carmen Souza’s ongoing commitment to using music as a space for storytelling, dialogue and empowerment, affirming jazz as a universal language capable of holding history, identity and imagination in the same breath.
Today, Carmen Souza stands as one of Europe’s most distinctive and in-demand jazz voices. As one critic aptly summarised:
“Carmen Souza does not have to choose between jazz and world music. Her sound is a language of its own—rooted, inventive, and unmistakably hers.”
2017 Silver Medal for Cultural Merit from the Cabo Verde Government (CV)
NOMINATIONS:
2013 - 31ºBestjazzsingers NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll (USA)
2013 Mercado de Musica Viva de Vic official Showcase (SP)
2010 Mercado Cultural Official Showcase (BR)
