From Luanda to New York: the amazing Angolan singer Aline Frazão is lending her voice to Recognition. I hope you watch this iteration of the film: Aline narrating Amílcar  Cabral’s texts is so powerful and deep.

Recognition portrays scenes of Black female workers out in salt fields, doing extremely hard work repetitively, sometimes with children on their back or barefoot. Black Angolan women suffered much violence during Portuguese occupation while simultaneously being erased from the country’s official liberation history. For that reason, and to make this project complete, it became particularly important for me to have the voice of a Black Angolan woman narrating the injustices and violence perpetrated during colonial times. 

Although the film was released back in June, I felt that Recognition wasn’t completely finished. It is hard to let go and accept that each album/ project has a timeline and belongs to a specific moment. But I feel that with Aline’s voice, Recognition is now concluded.

Thank you, Emmanuel Iduma for your kindness and insight and to Bruno Soares for continuously helping me improve the film. To Zeena Parkins, Mark Turner and David Virelles for giving life to my music. And to Aline who graciously accepted my invitation, deepening the dialogue and opening a new door to a reality I’ve been researching for such a long time.

Sara