Di Lonji

Description

With Di Lonji, "From Afar," her fifth album, Elida Almeida measures the journey she has made since her beginnings... And offers a vibrant ode to her roots, to the small archipelago that saw her born and inspires her at every moment: Cape Verde.
Eight years after her debut in 2014, the year she was discovered by producer José Da Silva – who is also responsible for introducing Cesaria Evora to the world – Elida Almeida measures the path traveled. Thus, she names her 5th album Di Lonji, "From Afar." "I come from very far away," she confirms. "From a country that, just a few decades ago, wasn't even on the world map... Above all, I come from the interior of the island of Santiago, from a countryside so deep, so remote, that most of its inhabitants never leave. I have visited 50 countries, won numerous awards, shared my creations on four continents...". An extraordinary destiny, due to her talent and tenacity. This exceptional journey – Elida is convinced of it – she owes to solid roots, to her guiding figures whom she honors, with infinite tenderness, on this album, a necklace of finely crafted intimate pearls. In Dondona, for example, she pays tribute to her grandmother, a strong-willed character, like Cape Verdean women, who raised her until she was seven.
If the musical soil on which Elida grows her songs remains faithful to the soundtrack of her territory – batuque, funana, tabanca – the young woman does not hesitate to reinvent it, to modernize it. Thus, the gaïta – the accordion –, the ferrinho – the triangle –, or the percussion of the batuque, blend, creolize under her fingers with more electric sounds, traveling colors, forged in close collaboration with her musical partner since her beginnings, Cape Verdean producer Hernani Almeida, and Ivorian songwriter-arranger-beatmaker, Momo Wang. The three of them composed tirelessly during a three-week residency on the island of São Vincente with only the rolling of the waves for company.
The result is this beautiful album, "Di Lonji," From Afar, which whispers, so close, its secrets to the ears of listeners, galvanizing and exciting them. For, by speaking with such sincerity, from her little piece of land, honoring her roots to such an extent, there is no doubt that Elida Almeida now addresses the whole world.