Karyna Gomes is a singer-songwriter and women’s rights activist from the West African county Guinea-Bissau. Born in 1976 to a Bissau-Guinean father and a Cape Verdean mother, Gomes was immersed in music from a young age, and was exposed to various local and international genres. She got her start as a singer with a gospel group in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she lived for 5 years. After returning to Guinea Bissau, Gomes joined the iconic band Super Mama Djombo, leaving them in 2011 to relocate to Lisbon and start a solo career. Gomes has released two solo albums to date, Mindjer (2014) and N’na (2021). Gomes often accompanies herself on the tina, a unique percussion instrument made of two gourds, one filled with water and the other inverted on top, that is traditionally crafted and played by women.
Featured Song:
On the Global Beat song “Dissa,” Gomes blends elements of contemporary Afrobeat and electronic effects with Bissau-Guinean roots music. She sings in Creole about her hopes for a better world through compassion and a rejection of materialism. “If your enemy holds a grudge / Give them water to drink.”
On her Global Dinner Party track, “Sinal di Mindjer” (Sign of a Women) Gomes sings to a lover in Portuguese Creole “Don't leave, don't go / Don't leave with my burdens, don't go / Don't say it didn't happen, don't say it / Go and see the value of a woman.”
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