Like all treasures, Jon Luz is a precious jewel of incalculable value, a specialist in string instruments, including the iconic ukulele with which the music of his islands is played so often; a composer and arranger full of knowledge about the special turns of morna, the music that UNESCO recently declared to be Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
In Lisbon, Jon Luz became a central figure in the nights when Cape Verde's sounds are heard. He accompanied artists such as Maria Alice, Titina, Ildo Lobo and Tito Paris. “There are already so many", he says, trying to hide his modesty, "I've lost count". In his only edited work, Farrope d ’Poesia, from 2006, he even had some arrangements by the mythical Orlando Pantera. But the stages, especially those that lend themselves to greater intimacy and real experimentation, have always attracted him more than the recording studios.
In the strange pandemic period that we are living through, Jon Luz had the opportunity to collect himself in Melides, where a studio was built according to his strict specifications. It’s a space designed for the Cape Verdean artist to experiment, to put his ideas into practice and apply his considerable experience, he who understands the dynamics of musical creation as profoundly as few others do.
There, Luz concentrated on his own work, calling the veteran Maria Alice to his side to give voice to a set of mornas that, along with undisputed classics by Tigoy, Paulinho Vieira and B. Leza, also include a handful of originals that he wears with the refinement of his imagination. Starting from the tradition of his islands, but without ignoring everything else that the Lusofone Atlantic has offered to music, Jon Luz benefited from a wide range of views. This gives his work an unusual position, somewhere between the memory of the most sophisticated music that Cabo Verde has already given the world and a possible future filled with new possibilities. “The result is very organic, very meaningful”, he says. “It translates into songs with delivery, with time ”. All travel takes time. And heart, of course. Jon Luz has both to spare. And that will now be heard, in this meeting with Maria Alice that puts Cape Verde back into the world. And into the future.
