David Byrne Newsletter October 2026 {Portugal}

I first heard the music of  Cape Verde through the majestic voice of Cesaria Evora the first time I went to New York. Sidling into a chic little bar in Manhattan a short walk from my hotel I heard this extraordinary sound and had to ask the bar person what on earth was the music . . . . it was Cesaria and as soon as I went home I bought all I could find. Magical, soulful danceable and so somehow effortlessly beautiful 

Portugal commended a world straddling empire. As often happens with colonies and empires, the colonized end up colonizing the colonizer. Well, culturally, to some extent. So artists from Sao Tome, Cabo Verde, Angola and other places around the world have either moved to Lisbon or had a profound influence on the music of the former colonizer.  What we think of as local Portuguese music isn’t without roots of influences either - I can hear traces of Arabic music in vocals and the trills of the Portuguese guitar.  There is also a younger generation who grew up in this melting pot and takes for granted that it is all Portuguese music. I have a personal connection with some of them - Bia Maria opened for us on our Portuguese show, and the late Waldemar Bastos was on Luaka Bop for a while. (I have left the biggest colony of all out- Brazil- needless to say Brazil gets its own playlist) - David Byrne   Listen to this month's playlist on: Apple Music: Click Here Mixcloud (free streaming): Click Here

My new book SLEEPING BEAUTIES is out Oct 6th!  + NEW BOOK TOUR DATES added More Info HERE

For these events I'm doing a one-hour talk with slides that will include a few of the sleeping beauties stories from the book and, as a bonus, a few newly written-up stories that are not in the book but are just as surprising. The process of putting this talk together has inspired me. I'm beginning to see what the implications of this lost and found process are – David Byrne

"Who Is The Sky?" Deluxe Edition - is now available on all streaming platforms - LISTEN HERE

MORE INFO AT DAVIDBYRNE.COM