Fantcha

cabo verde

Fantcha was born as Francelina Durão Almeida in Mindelo on São Vicente Island, Cape Verde. She grew up singing in a musically rich household.[1] From the earliest age, she loved to sing. Instead of playing with dolls or hopscotch with her little girlfriends, her biggest pleasure was to sing with her two brothers who enjoyed playing guitar and cavaquinho at home. When she was around 10, Fantcha joined the Flores do Mindelo carnival company. Like in Brazil, carnival is one of the most important social event in Mindelo. Gregorio Gonçalves, a.k.a. Ti Goy, at that time one of the most famous composers in the city, was the Flores do Mindelo music director. Soon he realized that this young shrill-voiced girl had a timbre that people would notice, a voice that would make the difference in the tough competition the carnival companies were indulged in. But, besides her voice and her look, Ti Goy detected in her a promising talent: he told her that she should become a singer and offered her some training lessons. Years later, Ti Goy introduced Fantcha to Cesária Évora; she also became a friend of Cesaria’s daughter Fernanda, who was Fantcha’s age. She started to visit Cesaria regularly and learned a lot from her: Ti Goy – who had previously trained Cesaria – taught her the rules of the rhythm while Cesaria taught her the vibes, the emotion, and the phrasing. Early 1988 – the same year Cesaria was recording an album that changed her destiny – Fantcha was in Lisbon, recor...