Cape Verdean by birth, Gardenia Benros is a critically acclaimed artist descended from a family of celebrated Cape Verdean singers.
Her mother, known as "Meek," and her grandmother "Nené" were her role models. Nené had popularized the mornas [sad, romantic ballads] of Cape Verde's best known composer, Eugenio Tavares.
A celebrity in her native Cape Verde and in European countries like Portugal, Spain, Holland, France, and Italy, Gardenia recently graduated from Berkelee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, earning a degree in Professional Music. She has released a string of successful albums for PolyGram, the first Cape Verdean ever signed to the label, and had toured extensively with many appearances on television shows and on the covers of magazines throughout Europe and the former Portuguese colonies of Cape Verde Island, Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau in Africa.
In Cape Verde, there are many female singers, but not many female composers. Gardénia strives to conciliate the two, and to be a voice travelling through different places and times, bridging the islands, as well as bridging the islands to the world.
A PRAISE TO GARDENIA
Magically your voice enchants
While singing mornas
You cast a spell, with your beauty and elegance
Beloved, you are our messenger
From the Island of Santo Antao, to Brava
Unparalleled, you represent Cape Verde
The nest of troubadours and poets
Who thirst for the unimaginable goddess.
Singing thought the universe
And making familiar our legend,
Alive and deep within
You kindle this flame
In these meek quatrains of praise
Dedicated with all my heart
Gardenia, a flower in a garden,
A thank you from Joao Amaro
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