In University Hall, the Cape Verde Students Association (CVSA) held their first annual “Sodade” cultural fair and fundraiser for their service trip to Cape Verde next year on April 27. It showcased speeches, traditional foods, and multiple performers playing music, singing, and dancing. The CVSA had set up 16 tables with black tablecloths and centerpieces with cloth blue and white flowers. There were at least 65 guests at the fundraiser. The host, Victoria Monteiro, kept the night lively and powerfully energetic with her witty comments and bright attitude.
The first speaker was Dr. Ellie Paris-Miranda, who came to America seven years ago from Portugal, and before that, Cape Verde. She told the crowd, “I have what I call ‘The Opportunity Creator Attitude.’ What that means is that, for girls like me, like many of you that look like me in this room, many times there’s not opportunities [sic]. You will have to create them. And that is exactly what I did.” She earned her doctorate at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth after she received a full scholarship. Paris-Miranda also holds two bachelor’s degrees, a masters of arts, and a masters of business administration. She is now CEO and co-founder of the clothing line Ellie Paris. They ship internationally and have a store set in Brockton, Massachusetts.
After Paris-Miranda’s motivational speech, Monteiro came back out to introduce a face-off between the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Massachusetts Boston’s dance teams. The UMass Amherst team consisted of 10 girls wearing black leotards and shawls. After their turn, UMass Boston came out with four boys and four girls. The boys wore black suits with dark red ties and the girls wore bright blue sequined shirts. The energy was intense with the booming music and passionate crowd. After the back and forth between the two teams, UMass Boston came out on top and the next group was introduced. The hip-hop rap group, JAAD, performed at the event. With 10 members, they brought a fantastic dynamic to the room and spurred on more dancing and cheers.
To bring back the more traditional cultural ties, Monteiro came out asking, “So, this is a Cape Verdean event. Where my Cape Verdeans at?” After the shouts and applauding she went on, sahd said: “Okay, so obviously you guys didn’t get the question, okay, so when you’re here, we’re all CV because CV just goes everywhere so, I say where my Cape Verdeans at?” While the room exploded in cheering, Monteiro brought the room back and said, “Alright, so you know us being Cape Verdeans, you know we gotta get that traditional in, right? So, I want you to give it up for, Batukada Level!” Batukada Level is a traditional percussion music group with nine men and one woman. Their music consists mainly of drums but featured other instruments too.
The last performer was singer Lisa Lopes, who stressed the importance of the younger generation embracing their cultural roots by keep listening to traditional music. After she sang her second song, Lopes said: “I’m only 29 years old. I recorded that song 3 years ago. Traditional music doesn’t only need to be recorded, or sang, or listened to by the ‘older generation.’ Our younger generation need to appreciate traditional music, okay? We need to, to support artists, like myself, or younger ones for the traditional music because we don’t want our culture to die young.”
After the raffle and closing thank you, the Sodade events ended around 10 p.m., but the night continued with even more music and dancing from everyone until the official night ending at 11 p.m.
You can find the CVSA twitter and Instagram accounts at the handle @umb_cvsa. For any inquiries on donations, their email is [email protected]