pioneer

Codé di Dona

Born Gregório Vaz

1940–2010

About Codé di Dona

Codé di Dona is revered as the father of funaná, the accordion master from Santiago who kept the rural gaita-and-ferrinho tradition alive through decades when the colonial establishment scorned it. Largely unrecorded until late in life, his 1990s albums finally captured the raw, unaccompanied source of a music others would electrify. His songs, blunt and earthy, are the taproot of the whole funaná tree.