Cape Verde is an outlier among African nations, a cluster of islands in the Atlantic Ocean that achieved independence from Portugal in the 1970s. Synthesize the Soul documents what happened in the ’70s and ’80s as Cape Verdean musicians traveled to and from Europe, bringing synthesizers and electric guitars into the rhythmically upbeat yet emotionally relaxed tempi that seems typical of the Portuguese-speaking world. Echoes of ’60s rock can be discerned in Nhú De Ped´Bia’s “Nós Criola,” Pedrinho’s almost psychedelic “Nanda” and Abel Lima’s “Farmicia” with its suggestions of Santana.
