Elida Almeida


Elida Almeida is a Cape Verdean singer.

Biography

Elida was born in Pedra Badejo in the east of Santiago Island. She spent her childhood years with some difficulty, in the mountains of Santiago. At 17, she sang at church, she listened to the radio, she said on that she grew up on a place without electricity or necessities. She worked on radio commentaries, especially with DJs and presenters. She started writing her album Nta Konsiqui
She later presented at local concerts and sang at bars in Cape Verde where she started her career. The producer José da Silva, a resident of France with Cape Verdean origins, which previously worked with Cesária Évora, was interested in her career, her style is very different from the most famous Cape Verdean morna-coladeira singer, more influenced by funaná, batuque, rhythms created by deserted slaves decades ago, but has a different similarity for the expression. Two years later, she made her first album Ora doci, Ora margos, in December 2014, she sang in Portugal and France, later she did her first concerts in France and the United States. In 2015, she took part at Festival Musiques Métisses in Angoulême, and for the first time on stage in Paris in the same month. In November 2015, she was designated a laureate at the RFi awards, made by the jury chaired by the Malian singer Oumou Sangaré. She produced mainly on the African continent even at the start of the Festival des musiques urbaines d'Anoumabo in Abidjan.
Elida Almeida was present at the 2016 Cabo Verde Music Awards together with Hélio Batalha. A month later, she went to the 10th edition of JazzKif, the Kinshasa Jazz Festival.

Discography

Albums

She collaborates with Nelly Cruz, a bass guitarist, Diego Gomes with keys, Magik Santiago with the drums and Hernani Almeida, a guitarist. They produced her first album Ora doci, ora morgas