The Milan-based label digs up Já Bô Corre D’Mim, initially released in 1984.
With music running through his fingers and a football at his feet, Narciso “Tchiss” Lopes was born on the São Vicente island of Cape Verde on July 27, 1959. At the age of 21, the political situation pushed him to move to Portugal and then to Rome, where he obtained an 11-month contract on a Greek cargo ship. As his father before him, Tchiss became a man of the sea and, as such, his first world tour began: from Civitavecchia to Lagos, Nigeria to Senegal, all the way to his dream land, Brazil. Having soaked up the rays of Brazilian music, Tchiss returned to Rome, where his musical career finally exploded, leading to nationwide tours of the country.
Following his first LP, Stranger Já Catem Traboi, Tchiss decided to experiment with reggae and funaná, inspired by the local rhythms of the island of Santiago. He gathered some of the best Cape Verdean musicians of the time in 1984, together with Zé António on guitar, Bebethe on bass and Alírio on drums, and recorded his second LP, Já Bô Corre D’Mim. It is an album that sings of a young man far from home, his unrequited love and saudade, the struggles of street life in a foreign land and a world full of inequality. Recorded in just 3 days at the Pomodoro Studio in Sutri, the album expresses the deep and layered sound of Tchiss’ music, where upbeat tempo, powerful vocals and electrifying guitar solos tangle in a dynamic mix of traditional melodies and cosmic reggae.
Já Bô Corre D’Mim by Tchiss Lopes, out on November 1 via Arabusta Records.
