Elida Almeida

Born on February 15, 1993 on the island of Santiago, Elida Almeida was raised by her grandparents in the little village of Kebrada, a remote, mountainous spot near to Pedra Badejo in the east of the capital island. “A place with no roads or electricity” where the only connection with the outside world was battery-powered radios, but where there was genuine happiness to be found. At the age of 14, Elida moved to the island of Maio with its vast stretches of sand, salt marshes, beaches and pearly waves. There, she helped her mother to sell fruit and vegetables in the market of Vila do Maio, also known as Porto Ingles (the English Port). Chosen among the ten islands of the archipelago by fate, Santiago was the land of Elida Almeida’s roots; Maio the isle of her emancipation. When she became a mother at 17, she continued her studies. In the heat of Maio, she also presented a show on local radio and refined her musical culture. To improve her vocal technique, she practiced church singing. Determined and keen to defend the right to education, Elida left the rural world to write songs of love and empathy.