Morna is a traditional musical and choreographic practice of the Cabo Verde Islands performed with instruments. It is sung or played with chordophones, including the guitar, violin, and ten-string guitar. In the twentieth century it has been replaced by the cavaquinho and the ukulele.
The origin of the morna is not fully known. Oral tradition suggests that it originated on Boa Vista Island in the 18th century, but no musicological evidence has been found in support of this claim. However, when Alves dos Reis says that the morna was not influenced by the invasion of polkas, mazurkas, galops, country dances, and other musical genres in Cape Verde during the 19th century, it suggests that the morna was already a complete, mature musical genre at the time.
Many people think the word “morna” comes from the English “to mourn”. Others think it comes from the French “morne” (cold) which is the name given to hills in the French Antilles. For most people, the word “morna” is equivalent to the feminine of “morno” (warm), clearly referring to the sweet and plaintive character of the morna.
Morna can either be sung or played only with instruments, such as guitar, violin, and ten-string guitar, replaced in the twentieth century by the cavaquinho and the ukulele. The instruments included guitars, pianos, percussion, and basses, but the guitar still stands out.
The lyrics are improvised and they can include topics such as love, departure, separation, reunion, longing, the ocean, and the motherland. In the past, the lyrics were also composed in Portuguese, but nowadays they are mainly written in Cape Verdean Creole.
These days, Morna is practiced by many musicians, singers, poets, and composers, who perform, disseminate, and transmit the practice to others. Some are also opening teaching centers as a genre. Morna is also practiced by formal groups. It's fundamental to Cape Verdean culture and social life since it's performed at weddings, christenings, and family reunions.
Communities have carried out transmissions through workshops, radio programs, performances, festivals, and the musical contest titled 'Todo Mundo Canta' which is held on every island. In recent times, composers have given the morna unusual features.
More recent mornas hardly follow the cycle of fifths scheme, there is a lot of freedom in chord sequences, the musical strophes do not always have a rigid number of verses, lundum reminiscences have practically disappeared in the melody, and some composers try to fuse the morna with other music genres.