Graphics and Accompanying Text

Introductory Text

Possible Subtext: From The Hearth to the Hall, Music as Natural Resource in Cape Verdean Fox Point

Possible Graphic Quote: "[Fox Point] was all music ... Somebody here would pick up a guitar and somebody else would show up." - Joe "Feet" Cruz

Cape Verdean sounds exploded from the kitchens, social clubs and dancehalls in Fox Point during the years before WWII. Whether you were going out to The Armory to see Duke Oliver and the Skyliners play with little Vickie Vierra Tavares, or the San Antonio Club to catch dashing Boavistas in their matching suits, the beat was always hot and the dancers were cool.

Cape Verdeans wove the creole sounds of their homeland into the fabric of Fox Point, incorporating new instruments, such as the electric guitar and bass, with traditional violins, accordions and clarinets. Innovative Cape Verdean artists pushed the boundaries of their craft by updating the plaintive traditional mornas, funanás and batuques with the fresh sounds of American Jazz and Big Band Swing.

Music brought people in the neighborhood’s Cape Verdean community together. Elder Cape Verdeans call their music a precious “natural resource,” an antidote to the parched earth of their ancestral home. By sharing this resource with their children and the Cape Verdean children in their neighborhood, Fox Pointers helped preserve the roots of their homeland and the continuity of their culture’s expressive forms.

Graphic One: A Festive Meal Infused With Music

The New Years Eve canta ris was a memorable time for Cape Verdeans in Fox Point. Musicians wandered from house to house with guitars and ferrinhos, offering songs in exchange for something to drink.

Graphic Two: Feliciano "Flash" Vierra Tavares

The late Feliciano “Flash” Vierra Tavares was one Fox Point’s greatest musicians. A self-taught guitarist hailing from a family of musicians, “Flash” toured New England and New York during the 1940s. He was well-versed in both American Jazz and Cape Verdean traditional music and often collaborated with his sister Vickie, a renowned vocalist. Vierra Tavares once said his greatest achievement was giving the gift of music to his sons, who banded together to form the Grammy-winning disco/R&B group Tavares.

Graphic Three/Three Point Five: Duke Oliver and His Orchestra

During the Big Band era, Cape Verdean orchestras led by Isadore "Duke" Oliveira infused the traditional Krioulu arrangements with new sounds, courtesy of Jazz-influenced arrangements and instrumentation.

Graphic Four: The Skyliners and Vickie Tavares Vieira

In the 1930's, the New Bedford-based Ultra Marine Band (a military-style marching band) formed an ancillary Big Band to play dance music. The Skyliners played extensively in the Cape Verdean club circuit, which included such venues as What Cheer Hall and Armory Hall on South Main Street.

Graphic Five: Vickie Tavares Vieira and Olympia Vieira

Vickie Tavares Vieira, Flash's younger sister, was a talented and well-respected musician in her own right. Vickie worked with many of Fox Point's most prominant Cape Verdean musicians, including "Cut" Cardoza and her brother Flash. She also recorded with Phil Barboza's Orchestra and sang with the Duke Oliver Orchestra. She is pictured here with her mother Olympia.

Graphic Six: Playing In The Clubs

Musicians playing in the Fox Point dance halls incorporated the traditional instruments of the islands with the sounds of Jazz and Big Band Swing.

Graphic Seven: The Jimmy Berry Trio

Fox Point brothers Eddie J. (piano) and Arthur S. Soares (trumpet), pictured here with drummer Jimmy Berry, began playing together after WWII. Ed continued jamming into the early 90's with notable RI bands and in celebrated local venues. He played at cocktail parties at Brown, the Providence Art Club, the Hope Club, the Faculty Club and privately, but may be best known for his work with the Jewels of Dixie who played for seven years at Bovi's in East Providence.