As of 3.30.09
From meeting with Claire Andrade-Watkins, Ademildo Lopes (who coordinates a group of local CV drummers), Romana Ramos (Head of the Cape Verdean Community Development Corporation of Pawtucket), Jo Andrade (local Cape Verdean musician who manages CV artists) and Joao Goncalves (one of the organizers of the summer CV festival which will return this year to India Point Park).
Our ideas are outlined below:
Overarching Theme: CV Music as a "natural resource" - Cape Verde has few natural resources, so its music and culture are often considered its greatest export.
Possible subtitle for the section: "From the Hall to the Hearth: The Music of Fox Point" (Something to emphasize that music was ever present in CV social life)
1) CV Musical traditions: Section intro explaining the importation of CV music in the fabric of the neighborhood and its fusion with Big Band Swing in the halls.
a) There are several images in Lou Costa's archive of the burnt husk of Infantry Hall - we aren't sure its necessary to emphasize the venues however and may want to forgo using something to illustrate the intro.
b) Other important "institutions" for CV musicians include: The Armory, Gaspee Hall, Whatcheer Hall, Holy Name and The Celebrity Club (also significant in that it was the first integrated live music club in RI). Some of these halls were used by the clubs that didn't have permanent residencies so can probably be covered in that section.
c) We'd like to illustrate the Cantares in which musicians traveled around the neighborhood on festive days (such as New Year's Eve) playing to folks in their homes and taking a nip at each house. One of the Sam Beck pictures may help us tell this story, though its not explicitly from a Cantare. Yvonne Smart talks of the Cantares in her oral history which also might be a useful resource.
2) CV Musicians
a) Flash Viera, featured in the 14-minute clip that Claire has produced, recently passed. To represent him we have both the possibility of projecting the whole of this video or framing a portion of it on the wall, and potentially will have access to his guitar! We also have a picture of a young Flash from the Lou Costa collection.
b) Ivo Piers, an acclaimed violinist and violin-maker, recently passed as well. We may be able to find one of his violins to use in the exhibit, though it might be gauche to ask his family for his actual violin since he passed just this past week. As of now we have not found any images of Ivo.
c) The Boavistas were a group of longshoreman who played in a CV big band. We have several excellent pictures of them via Claire.
d) The Duke Oliver Band/The Skyliners were another local CV big band. We have a couple pictures of them playing in an uknown hall and one from the East Providence CV Club that features Flash Viera's sister Vicki, also featured in the 14-minute clip that may be projected.
3) Instruments
a) Guitar (previously mentioned artifact of Flash Viera)
b) Violin (previously mentioned artifact of Ivo Piers)
c) Drum (can be borrowed from either the CV Museum in EP, or from Ademildo Lopes)