On the last floor of a high building in Marquês de Pombal – Lisbon’s financial and commercial area – is the headquarters of the Associação Cabo Verde, the oldest of its kind in the capital. Its unexpected location aside, it draws many from the community who need support with issues relating to law and integration issues and acts as a central meeting point for all types, including academics. As well as organizing events focusing on post-colonial Cape Verde and its diaspora, the association also hosts regular festive lunches (almoço dancantes), with live music on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Dr. José Luis Hopffer Almada, the association’s vice president, explained to CB that this multi-roomed space was once a casa do estudante do imperio (house of the students of the empire), an institution that, despite being a tool of the Estado Novo regime, was an important venue in terms of raising awareness about independence (which Cape Verde gained from Portugal in 1975, one year after the Carnation Revolution). The association has since developed different projects over the decades, such as bilingual alphabetization, support for other Cape Verdean associations at the neighborhood level and development as a multi-faceted cultural center.
Nowadays, its raison d’être is to celebrate music and food, with its restaurant open to Cape Verdeans and their friends nearly evert day (ultimately, everybody is welcome, Dr. Hopffer says). The space, decorated with paintings and afforded a stunning view thanks to its location on the eighth floor, is often crowded, where eating cachupa to the rapid and melodic sounds of batuqueira comes standard.
Published on March 19, 2017
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