Criolo ta obi lento

This is not to be taken too seriously, its not a scientific fact but the result of a conversation, whether its true, funny or silly, that's for you to decide....

One sunny day after jagacida, arroz marisco, and red wine I asked a close family friend why do we listen to so much morna, why old school funana is slow with compasso and the rapicado is only at the end?
why the first instruments you are most likely to learn when you're a child is either violin, guitar or piano and its usually a morna?

At that moment he had upgraded from wine to whisky...he smiled slowly, looked up as if he was about to make a toast and explained to me;
"criolo ta obi lento",
our hearing is like a slowly played violin and the sway of a cavaquinho when it plays morna,
Traditional funana is played with compasso and danced with 'passo baca' (the pace of a cow), because "criolo ta obi lento" - Cape Verdeans hear slow,
when we dance we take our time to feel the girl in our arms first, feel her against our body second and then feel the music last,
when we go to a party at night, we take time to eat, drink, talk, dance, eat, drink, talk, dance and the time slips us by...
most people would think that sunrise means go home and sleep it off, but for us sunrise means a huge mancheda of catchupa refogadu, canja, cafe, camocha and coffee, and if we're in the right place a swim at the beach,

After he said this the whole room shared his witty humor and smiles were abundant. This reassured me that it wasn't the whisky nor the wine speaking, it was his soul reciting an all-familiar theme.

I took the position of a devil's advocate and stated the fact that today in Cape Verde there is a fusion of Funana & fast-deka beats, and kuduro, techno is all too popular.....so does this mean that the new generation of Cape Verdeans have upgraded hearing?

suddenly the smiles in the room turned into loud laughter...thinking I had created a debate and won it before the oponent could respond I got up to open a bear bottle when I heard the philosopher clear his throat.

He did not hesitate and smiled at me as I took a seat, he was not done supporting his philosophy........

well you see, you kids dance faster funana, and dance Angolan kuduro, but you won't like the party until you've heard a slow kizomba, you dance the kuduros that are already out of style in Angola and the faster funanas of today have either repetitive lyrics or lyrics with popular themes, otherwise you just won't be able to follow because "criolo ta boi lento."
I had no response! so I just laughed along

I remembered that its all too common that the airplane will arrive late from Cape Verde, because the pilot was attending a wedding party or even worse spent his night watching live music and drinking aguardente.

I remembered that when we enter a room of 100 Cape Verdeans we will be scolded for not greeting every single face and every single greeting comes with 10 minutes of conversation...because who cares about time or being in a rush....criolo ta obi lento.

Have you ever tried rushing a Cape Verdean? Have you ever talked fast to or loud at a Cape Verdean? don't attempt it! it will not be a friendly experience!

why do we have difficulty understanding portuguese and brazilians, not because criolo is different from portuguese, but because they don't talk with a paced melody, and after all....
criolo ta obi lento.