ZONA BONITA

SUZANNA

Cape Verdean born Suzanna Lubrano, just as easy does a concert in her home country Holland as in Angola, Mozambique, the Cape Verde islands, France, Portugal or in the Americas.. Her new album Saida that offers a combination of Zouk music and R&B is now ready for take off in the US and Canada.

You just signed with an US label that will release your album Saida. What are your expectations? Do you think the US is ready for you?
The kind of music I make has a very international flavour. We get responses from all over the world, including the United States. The United States is a great market for my music anyway. First of all, there are more Cape Verdeans living in the US than in Cape Verde itself. Secondly, there are many other communities who love the Zouk music I make, such as the 1 to 2 million Haitians in the US. Thirdly, yes of course I have the ambition to try to reach a more mainstream market in the US.

Saida already was released in the Netherlands (your home) and some other countries. How did people respond to it?
The responses are great, although some people have to get used to it. They don't just get a Zouk album like I've made before. The album contains Zouk, Batuku, R&B songs in English. It's really a very diverse album. Some fans believe it's my best album yet, others have to get used to it. But the good thing is, because it is so diverse, everyone picks out a different track of the album. The song ''Bai' is in the charts in Cape Verde, 'Fiesta' is in the charts of the pan-African RDP Africa, 'Love So Good' is played a lot by dj's in Portugal and is on the playlist of urban radio stations in the Netherlands, 'Homi di Branco' is on the playlist of national radio 1 in the Netherlands, 'Junta Coragi' has a lot of airplay in Angola, 'Taxi' in Mozambique, so everybody picks out a different song, that's great!

Saida mixes R&B with the Cape Verde version of Zouk how does this combination work for you?
In a sense Zouk Music is the R&B from the Caribbean and Africa, so in that sense the mix of Zouk and R&B really feels very natural. Some people don't really now how to categorize a specific song. Songs like 'Fiesta' and 'Gone', are they mainstream R&B or Zouk? Basically it's both. Besides, I always wanted to record English language R&B songs as well.

Do you think that makes it difficult to put a label on you?
Because I'm Cape Verdean and many of my songs are in the Cape Verdean Creole language, they often categorize me under World Music. But in fact I'm a Pop artist. In my view, whether I sing in Creole, English or any other language is irrelevant. Nevertheless, I'm fine with every label people want to put on me, as long as they like my music.

Can you tell us something about the album. Where and how did you record it.? Producers etc.
Most of the songs were recorded in Blue Jay Recording in Massachusetts, US, with my producer Marcus 'DL' Siskind, who has worked with artists like Queen Latifah, Backstreet Boys, Lauryn Hill and many others. Some other songs were recorded in France with Ronald Rubinel. There are also co operations on the album with Jacob Desvarieux from Kassav', Quatro Plus, Buddha Monk (Brooklyn Zoo Wu-Tang), Ryan Toby (City High), Dre Robinson, Marcos Fernandes, Kim Alves, Tracy Bonham and many others. In other words: diverse backgrounds creating a diverse album.

What does Saida mean?
It means 'Exit' and it's the title track of the album. It's really based on personal experiences, the lyrics, including the English translation, can be read on my website www.suzannaonline.com

Talking about the USA, you already have quite a fan base among the Cape Verde immigrants in Boston en Miami, can you explain our readers something about this 'Cabo' network?
There are over half a million Cape Verdeans in the US, many of them living in the New England area, others in Miami and Atlanta. It's always great to go there, I always receive a great welcome there. In general, the Cape Verde community is a worldwide community, living in North and South America, Europe and Africa.

Although you are based in the Netherlands, you have many fans outside your country. It means you do a lot of concerts abroad. How about that?
I've got used to it. I travel to Angola and Mozambique, many European countries, the Americas. It's tiring., but I like it.

You are a big star in Africa, you even received the Kora award (like an African Grammy) for best female artist. Can you describe how it is to be there and do concerts in African countries?
Of course it's always great to perform in Africa especially when it's in countries where the fans sing my songs word by word. That happens a lot in Angola and Mozambique.

Probably your music could be successful in South America too, ever thought of recording a Spanish album?
It would be a good thing if I'm able to record a Spanish album or at least some Spanish songs. I'd really love to do that. Currently, I hope to record a French language song pretty soon, because the core of the Zouk market has always been the Francophone countries. But yes, I'd love to sing in Spanish as well.