COVER N.120 - CAPE VERDE

Postmark:  Mindelo 26.05.2022
Posted on the 26th May; received on the 31st May 2022
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Cabo Verde, Cape Verde, the archipelago off the coast of Africa that was once an underdeveloped Portuguese colony  and a place of exile and torture for Portuguese oppositionists under the dictatorship of Salazar,  and is now a country steadily making its way forward as a stable true democracy, in spite of all the hardships of a harsh, dry climate, a lack of natural resources and the pressure of a ever growing population.

Sun, Wind and Sea abound though, and Cape Verde has turned to tourism as the main generator of income, a policy that has been fruitful and  has impelled the Republic upwards on the ranking of development, so much so that in 2008 Cape Verde progressed from a developing country into a medium development country.

I have to say that I do have a irrevocable connection with Cape Verde. As a matter of fact, I was actually conceived there, in the island of Sal, even if mother had to come to Lisbon, in mainland Portugal, in the last days of her pregnancy since a difficult delivery was expected (and later confirmed). I lived amidst rocks and sand and beaches until I was 4 or so, and the only memory I have of that time is feeling very ill for being drunk on petrol..... I can't resist telling the history:

There was a general store in the village. the only one, and by general, I mean general since I guess it sold anything needed to allow residents the possibility of a comfortable yet far from luxurious life.

Mother went there in the morning with her little child by her side. 

"Good morning, could I have some eggs, some flour, some...." while she was busy naming the groceries she was in need of, I went on a exploration safari to the back room of the shop, where the really interesting stuff was kept. 

And now is where my rather faded memories kick in: I turned  this little tap on a container, from which a stream of pink liquid came flowing down. I don't know why, but the fact that father used to drink something pinkish or reddish with his meals might have something to do with it, so picked up a metal cup lying about, filled it with the pink liquid and drank it. 

And my memories are interrupted here….

for a good reason I guess, because my mother later told me that I came out of the back room staggering until I was on the verge of collapsing. 

The smell in my breath told the tale and I was immediately taken to the village doctor, who prescribed warm milk as a way to induce vomit, since he probably had no means to perform a gastric lavage. so home mother took me, where she gave me copious amounts of warm milk, but for some reason I wouldn't throw up. Mother was becoming desperate and she decided to give me milk directly from the cooler. She told me she doesn't know to this day if this was the right thing to do, but the truth is that right after the cold milk, I finally managed to throw up all the nasty stuff I had inside.

The doctor had said that after throwing up I should not eat for the ensuing 24 hours, in order to clean the system up, but (and here my faded memories kick in again) I remember lying down on my parents' bed, with my father by my side and my mother giving me a banana to eat, because I was feeling rather hungry....

All is well that ends well, and I guess I've learned the lesson, because I have never drank petrol again...

This little story means absolutely nothing to none other than me and myself, I'm sure, and I had it well locked away in my memories vault, but a check of the letterbox yielded this enveloped graced with two very beautiful stamps and all of the sudden it came back to me. Stamps are powerful things…

And so I have to thank Roland again for having moved mountains so that I could add another country to my list, with this lovely cover from where I learned to walk, talk and ... avoid petrol as a substitute for wine!

Un grand Merci, comme d'habitude, Roland!

Stamps

The story of colonialism is always a story of domination and of course action triggers reaction (after all the laws of physics apply to generally anything, right?) 

In Cape Verde the first episodes of social unrest involving protests related to emancipation from colonial domination,  land use and exploitation  took place in the late XIX century. Confessing my ignorance, I investigated and found some information  here.

Cape Verde Post issued on 12NOV 2010, a three stamp set (40, 50, 60 Escudos), dedicated to these early popular uprisings, the one on my cover (50 Esc) being dedicated to  that of  " Paúl, Santo Antão (1894), in which more than a thousand people, from various parishes of Paúl, marched on Ribeira Grande, having occupied it for five days (the Council Square, the Town Hall and various public offices), to protest against injustices and harassment to which they were subjected and against the burden of property tax" (translated quote from "Esquina do Tempo")

Further to the image of a group of citizens, identified as Paúl locals subjected to slandering by "Machadistas" there is a quote form what I suspect is a song "Quem tem amor / Quem tem amor / ao berço amado / Grita fora/ Contra o Machado" (Those who love / Those who love /their place of birth / cry out / against Machado). I, as such, am led to the conclusion that someone named Machado, was the instigator of the slandering.

Cape Verde is also a land of Culture, expressed in written or sung words.

Mornas, Coladeras, Funaná are probably the better known genres of popular music from the archipelago where music almost seems to be a genetic trait....

On 2012, Cape Verde Post honoured six of its best known and missed  composers and performers with a very fine stamp emission (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 Escudos), each stamp showcasing the effigy of one artist while on the background legends stated their date and place of birth and passing and the names of some of the music pieces they were famous for.

My stamp (10 esc)  is dedicated to composer Ano Nobu (Fulgêncio Tavares).

The other artists in the set are Ildo Lobo, Renato Cardoso, Manuel d'Novas, Codé di Dona (Gregório Vaz) and Pantera (Orlando Barreto). 

The rather dificult to read postmark, tells us that the cover was mailed from the city of Mindelo, Cape Verde second largest city after Praia (island of Santiago) the capital , in the island of São Vicente.