When I started working in music — first at Virgin, then at Fnac — my passion was always discovering new sounds and new artists. Over time I became a buyer: part of the team that chose and bet on records, believing in their potential. Professionally, it was everything I had ever wanted. I have always listened to music as if moving between two rooms in the same space: in one, the classics — my lifelong heroes — and in the other, a constant search for something new. When I found it, the reward was immense. That is how I still follow music today: listening to the pillars and looking for those who will become the next ones.
In our country, young people have talent, will and passion — what they often lack is a stage. Two phrases I hear regularly and find frankly absurd are: "he doesn't have enough experience for this stage" and "he could be part of the youth festival." We must never forget that many of our young people are orphans of musical education — whether formal or the kind that comes from home. Just as the previous generation was orphaned by the absence of music shops — we never had them as places to learn how to choose and discover records. There is much more to say on this, but I will leave it for another chronicle.
On the first phrase — especially when it comes from promoters whose thinking is purely commercial — I have only one question: what exactly makes that stage so superior that it can declare an artist lacks the experience for it? Are our stages really so experienced themselves? As for the second, I have seen very young musicians fill rooms with genuine emotion — emotion that comes from the heart, not from age.
I raise all of this because this week I saw an artist who carries everything the so-called evaluators would mark as weakness: he is very young, just 20, cannot have much experience by virtue of his age, and would, in some people's view, belong only on a "youth stage." For me, it is precisely the opposite. His youth brings a fresh energy, a certain stage innocence that gives him a natural, original and deeply compelling charisma.
I am talking about Eri Gomes.
Having won awards in competitions such as the TMC, both nationally and internationally, he is now beginning to appear on stages in Praia and beyond. Quietly — just as he himself is — he steps onto those stages and wins over his audiences, as he did at the recent Gala of Fundação Dretu, which has become an important space for nurturing young voices. His voice is distinctive. A striking timbre that, combined with a pure passion for music, makes him a genuine contemporary troubadour. Deeply in love with traditional music, his great passion is the morna. His biggest inspirations are Dudu Araújo and Ildo Lobo. Those two names alone tell you everything about the path he is walking.
From a slight frame comes a voice that is strong and entirely natural. Eri is an exceptional voice in the present, and I will go as far as to say he is a certain future of our music. When he sings, he smiles through the words that call for smiling, and cradles others with pure feeling. He loves the stage, the music, and above all the sharing — not the vain kind, but the generous kind. In the shows where I have seen him perform and worked alongside him, I am struck by the respect and attention with which he listens to those with more experience, whether musicians or production colleagues. He responds readily to the audience's requests, making clear that for him the stage is not a place for self-assertion, but a space of continuity between artist and crowd.
For all of this, I can only believe that another precious stone has been born in our music. May Eri's journey continue wrapped in friendship and in the humility that defines him. And I will go further: may Eri Manuel become a landmark in the story of Cape Verdean music. May our choices of artists be grounded in musical value — because true value, sooner or later, also brings its own return. Young people are ready for the stages. This generation is valid and talented. What they need, simply, is STAGES. And Eri Manuel, I am certain, will very soon be on posters — national and international alike.
