Nossos Corpos Também São Pátria” – How Dino d’Santiago's Music Centers Blackness in a Reimagination of Portuguese National Identity Open Access
Helsens, Chloe (Spring 2025)
Abstract
Music has been utilized historically and transcontinentally as a form of storytelling,
expressing various ideas, identities, and (de)constructing communities. One song alone offers
multifaceted forms of communication—via genre, rhythm, lyrics, tempo, harmony, and
more—allowing artists to weave their own narratives. Dino d’Santiago, a Black-Portuguese
musician of Cabo Verdean descent, similarly utilizes music to assert his (and others’) presence in
Portugal, a country haunted by the remnants of its colonial past. While Portugal often claims it is
a country void of racism, Dino uses music as a platform to expose how his country marginalizes
Black-Portuguese communities and excludes them from national identity. In this body of work, I
investigate how Dino d’Santiago utilizes his music as means to assert his place within a
collective Portuguese identity. Mainly, I explore his albums Kriola (2020) and Badiu (2021), and
how he employs racial and spatial dialogues to expose systemic physical and social oppression of
Black-Portuguese communities, mark their presence, and reimagine a future, more inclusive
Portugal.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................1
My Research, Methodology, and Structure..........................................................................1
Who is Musician Dino d’Santiago? An Overview of His Discography..............................3
Dino d’Santiago’s Cabo Verdean Roots and Beginnings in Music......................................5
Who does Dino d’Santiago Collaborate with in His Music?...............................................7
Dino d’Santiago Recognition: His Role as a Trailblazer for Afro-Portuguese
Communities in Portugal.....................................................................................................8
Nations as “Imagined communities”.................................................................................10
CHAPTER 1: Investigating the Role of Cabo Verdean and Portuguese Histories in Defining
Black-Portuguese Identity...........................................................................................................12
Introduction and the Role of Music...................................................................................12
Section 1.1: Cabo Verde and The Portuguese Empire: The Islands In-between.....................14
Cabo Verde - A Geographical Overview...........................................................................14
Portugal - Early Beginnings and Connection to Cabo Verde.............................................15
Cabo Verde as the Nexus Between Africa, Europe, and the Americas..............................16
Section 1.2: Cabo Verdean Diaspora Waves – The Beginnings of a Transnational Community
in Portugal................................................................................................................................19
The Fall of the Slave Trade System...................................................................................19
Contratados – How A System of Forced Labor Facilitated Cabo Verdean Emigration....20
Migration Influxes from Cabo Verde to Portugal..............................................................21
Cabo Verdean Migration into Portugal - The “Badius” and the “Elites”...........................22The Cabo Verdean Identity and Transnational Community Building................................24
Challenges with Estimating Cabo Verdean Migration Numbers.......................................24
Second-generation Cabo Verdean Immigrants as Intermediaries......................................25
Section 1.3: Cabo Verde as the first “Creole” Society.............................................................26
Kriolu as a Social Identity..................................................................................................26
Cabo Verdeans and Their Descendants as Creole Citizens................................................28
Impacts of Lusotropicalism on Creolization in Cabo Verde..............................................29
Section 1.4: Estado Novo – How the Portuguese Dictatorship Shaped Race Relations and
Portuguese Identity..................................................................................................................30
An Introduction to Estado Novo........................................................................................30
Pressure for Decolonization and Fights for Independence................................................32
Cabo Verde Post-Carnation Revolution.............................................................................33
Section 1.5: Present-Day Portugal - An Intersectional Analysis of Black-Portuguese
Experiences in Portugal...........................................................................................................34
Black-Portuguese Presence and Belonging.......................................................................34
Section 1.6 – Morna, Funaná, and Batuque: The Cabo Verdean Heartbeat in Dino
d’Santiago’s Signature Sounds................................................................................................38
Morna: Music of the Kriolu...............................................................................................38
Batuque: Cape Verde’s Oldest Music Style.......................................................................40
Funaná – Sounds from Santiago........................................................................................41
Music as an Assertion of Presence.....................................................................................42CHAPTER 2: “Sou um preto em construção, não sou um branco em desconstrução:” An
Analysis of Racial and Spatial Discourses in Dino d Santiago’s Artistry...............................45
Section 2.1: Centering Dino d’Santiago in Discussions of Race and Space...........................45
An Introduction to Chapter 2.............................................................................................45
Section 2.2 - Exploring Racial Narratives in Dino d’Santiago’s Music..................................47
The Layers of Racial Discourse in Dino’s Songs..............................................................47
Quem ainda sofre bué, são as pessoas mais еscuras” - Examples of How Systematic
Oppression Appears in Dino d’Santiago’s Songs..............................................................48
Race as a means of (non)Belonging in Portugal................................................................65
Section 2.3 - Exploring Spatial Discourse in Dino d'Santiago Artistry...................................72
What types of Spaces Appear in Dino d’Santiago’s Songs?..............................................72
“E a Linha da Sintra / Fala a Língua da Cesária”: Tangible Space as a Marker of
Afro-Portuguese Presence..................................................................................................73
Reimagining Space: Dino d’Santiago’s Music as a Portal for Change..............................81
Genre Fusion as a Symbol of Cross-Cultural Spaces and Belonging................................87
Does Dino d’Santiago’s Concept of “Nova Lisboa” Mirror Lusotropicalist Ideals?.........90
Concluding Remarks................................................................................................................... 97
Works Cited................................................................................................................................100
References...................................................................................................................................109
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