With Sinfonico, Mariana Ramos presents a powerful orchestral album situated between Morna, lusophone world music, and symphonic elegance. Emotional, historically conscious, and timeless.
Released on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Cape Verde’s independence, she combines Cape Verdean soul with classical grandeur. The result is a musical bridge between tradition and modernity, intimacy and monumentality. Mariana Ramos has been one of the most important voices of the Cape Verdean diaspora for more than two decades. Her music brings together melancholy, pride, and a deep cultural rootedness that reaches far beyond genre boundaries. Raised between Cape Verde and Europe, she developed an artistic identity early on that connects personal history with collective memory. Her voice carries the heritage of Morna as well as an open, contemporary worldview. Her continued sense of closeness and accessibility stems from her strong bond with long-standing companions and musicians, with whom she shares an organic, almost familial musical language. The impulse for Sinfonico emerged from a special encounter with the Orchestre National Avignon-Provence and its director Philippe Grison, accompanied by a light-hearted anecdote involving Cesária Évora, who symbolically passed the baton on to Ramos. Together with the renowned composer, arranger, and conductor Marc-Olivier Dupin, Ramos ventured into the world of large symphonic orchestras. The creative process was shaped by mutual respect, artistic freedom, and the challenge of uniting the relaxed rhythms of Cape Verdean music with the precision of a symphony orchestra. This tension became the driving force of the project. Sinfonico is both a reflection and a vision. The album pays tribute to lusophone culture and commemorates freedom fighter Amílcar Cabral, while selected songs from Ramos’ repertoire appear in a new orchestral light. Recorded with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, the work stands as a symbol of her artistic maturity. Sinfonico is not a nostalgic monument, but a living statement—passionate, dignified, and deeply rooted in the history of Cape Verde.
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