Fernando Quejas

Fernando Quejas was a Cape Verdean singer and songwriter. (b. 1922 - Praia, Cabo Verde / d. 2005 - Lisboa, Portugal) He began to sing at a very young age and was a founding partner of Rádio Clube de Cabo Verde, which appeared in 1945 having been the first to perform live from its studios. He left for Portugal at the end of 1947 and in the following year joined the cast of Emissora Nacional, initially singing Brazilian songs, a repertoire he already took from Cape Verde, where names such as Ary Barroso, Silvio Caldas and Orlando Silva were no strangers. Only later does he begin to introduce the morna, practically unknown in Portugal at the time, into his repertoire. He recorded 22 singles between 1952 and 1973. In addition to the series of singles Quejas toured Portugal for years, singing in casinos, events and in the so-called "Serões para os Trabalhadores", promoted by the National Foundation for Joy at Work and which lasted until the 25th of April. Without returning to Cape Verde for 43 years, in 1990 he visited Praia at the invitation of Aristides Pereira - this, after reaching the ears of the then President of the confidence that he had made to a friend about the hurt he had to see others being invited to events in Cape Verde and he never was. Quejas keeps the video of the recording of the show then held in the auditorium of the National Assembly, a true meeting of generations, with Dany Spínola reading a poem by Jorge Barbosa and then the singer performing accompanied by Luís Morais, Valdemar Lopes da Silva, Chico Serra, Bau and Kim Alves. (