Index

Voices of Saudade

Poetry, Memory, Heritage & Music

Voices of Saudade brings together poetry, personal recollections, maritime experiences, family histories, and music to preserve the cultural and emotional heritage of Cabo Verde, Portugal, and their diasporas.

Here, we explore saudade through the voices of those who have lived it: memories of home, separation and reunion, journeys across the Atlantic, and connections that endure across generations. Cape Verdean morna and other musical traditions offer another way to express what words alone sometimes cannot.

Through these expressions, ASI preserves more than dates and events. We honor the feelings, traditions, and human connections that give our history meaning.

The Story Behind the Expression

A poem may begin with a voyage. A song may carry the memory of an island. A photograph may bring back a person, a place, or a moment otherwise difficult to describe.

Whenever possible, Voices of Saudade presents a contribution alongside the experience that gives it meaning. Features may combine:

Original poetry and prose
Personal and family recollections
Maritime experiences and migration stories
Photographs and related documents
Recorded readings and oral histories
Reflections on songs and musical traditions
Historical context and further reading

Personal recollections are identified as individual experiences. Where dates, identities, or details remain uncertain, that uncertainty is acknowledged.

How to Contribute

Contributors begin by contacting ASI with a brief description of what they wish to share. A contribution may be a single poem, a short memory, a family story, or an idea for a larger feature.

Please tell us:

What the contribution is about
Who created it
Its connection to ASI’s cultural or maritime mission
Whether photographs, recordings, or other materials accompany it
Whether you hold permission to share those materials
How you would like to be credited

Please send digital copies rather than irreplaceable originals unless a separate arrangement has been agreed upon.

From Submission to Published Feature

1. Initial Conversation

ASI discusses the proposed contribution with its creator or authorized representative, including its background, intended presentation, and any privacy concerns.

2. Review and Selection

We review material for relevance, clarity, permissions, and available capacity. Submission does not guarantee publication, and some features may require additional research or preparation.

3. Organizing the Story

Where useful, we help arrange the material into a feature that connects the creative work with its background. This may include an introduction, captions, a recorded reading, or related historical information.

4. Editing and Contributor Approval

Suggested edits are discussed with the contributor. We seek to preserve the author’s voice and meaning and obtain approval of the prepared feature before publication.

Translations, substantial revisions, image restoration, and colorization require agreement. Edited or illustrative images are clearly identified.

5. Permission and Publication

Before publication, we confirm the agreed credit and permission for the specific material and uses involved.

Permission to appear on this page does not automatically include reproduction in a video, printed publication, merchandise, or another format. Additional uses are addressed separately when needed.

6. Corrections and Continuing Context

Contributors and readers may contact ASI with corrections or additional information. We review these suggestions and update features where appropriate.

Music and Musical Heritage

Music holds a special place within Voices of Saudade, including the Cape Verdean morna and the musical expressions of Portugal and the diaspora.

Contributions may explore a song’s personal meaning, a performer’s influence, family musical traditions, or the circumstances in which music accompanied migration, work, celebration, and remembrance.

We use authorized recordings, permitted embeds, or links to legitimate sources where appropriate. Lyrics, compositions, performances, and recordings may involve different rights; permission from one contributor does not necessarily cover every element.

Authorship, Privacy, and Respect

Contributors retain the rights they hold in their work. Sharing material with ASI does not transfer ownership unless a separate agreement expressly provides otherwise.

Please submit only material you created or are authorized to share. Photographs, letters, recordings, and stories involving other people may require additional permission or careful handling.

ASI discusses sensitive details with contributors before publication. Participation does not require public disclosure of private family matters.

Contributors may request a correction or removal of material they supplied. ASI reviews such requests and acts on the channels it controls where practicable; copies already downloaded or shared elsewhere may remain beyond its control.

Help Preserve These Voices

ASI welcomes assistance from writers, poets, musicians, translators, researchers, photographers, editors, and people experienced in recording oral histories.

You may contribute a story of your own or help someone else preserve theirs. A conversation with an older relative, identifying a photograph, or recording a memory can become a valuable contribution.

As a developing organization, ASI prepares features according to available time, permissions, and resources. We appreciate patience as the collection grows.

ACTA NON VERBA

Deeds, Not Words.

Preserving a voice begins by listening. It continues when we record the memory, protect the work, and share it thoughtfully with another generation.

Voices of Saudade connects personal expression with our shared cultural heritage.

Explore the stories. Listen to the memories. Share your voice.

Continue Your Exploration

Maritime Heritage - Discover the traditions and experiences connecting our communities with the sea.
Family Albums - Explore photographs and the family stories they preserve.
ASI E-Library - Find related cultural, historical, and literary resources.
360 Deep - Examine the wider context surrounding people, events, and ideas.
360 Deep Reference Library - Explore sources for further reading and research.
ASI YouTube Library - Discover related videos, interviews, and recorded stories.
Who We Are - Learn about ASI and the purpose behind our work.
Volunteering - Help with research, translation, editing, or preservation.
Contact Us - Propose a contribution or ask about participating.
Privacy Policy and Terms of Use - Review the policies associated with sharing and using material.

The Story Behond Atlantis in the Atlantic

Atlantis in the Atlantic

Inspired by a diver's discovery off the island of São Vicente, Cabo Verde

I came upon these islands
From a ship upon the sea,
Where the mountains rose from ocean depths
With a haunting mystery.

I had sailed across the oceans,
Seen distant lands and shores,
And walked beneath the waters
Where few had gone before.

On São Vicente's rugged coastline,
Far from Mindelo's crowded quay,
A friend led me to a lonely shore
Where black stone met a story.

I carried with me years of diving,
Of wrecks and reefs and ocean floors,
Yet nothing in those many journeys
Prepared me for what will unfold.

I slipped beneath the rolling waters,
Where sunlight danced upon the stone,
Descending through the quiet blue
Into a world of its own.

The bottom lay in volcanic darkness,
Blackened rock from ancient fire,
The remnants of a restless earth
That once had climbed much higher.

And then, some forty feet below,
A sight I could not understand:
A passage through the fields of stone,
A perfect road of white sand.

On either side, the black rock rested,
Level, undisturbed, and still,
As though some ancient hand had cleared it
With purpose, strength, and will.

No towering walls, no scattered rubble,
No broken stones in disarray,
Just two dark borders, straight and silent,
And white sand stretching far and beyond my will.

I hovered there in disbelief,
Suspended in the ocean's blue,
And wondered what forgotten secret
This strange and silent pathway lay.

Was this the work of wind and water,
Of currents through the ages swept?
Or had the sea concealed a passage
That forgotten people kept?

I followed it with searching eyes,
As far as light would let me see,
A pale road through the darkness
Leading farther out to sea.

And in that moment, I remembered
The ancient tales that sailors told,
Of cities lost beneath the ocean told,
Of vanished kingdoms, and streets of gold.

Could this be where the journey started,
Where some forgotten pathway ran?
A road beneath the Atlantic waters,
Beyond the memory any man?

Could it lead to ancient Atlantis,
That city lost to time and tide?
A kingdom swallowed by the ocean,
Its secrets buried deep in time?

I knew no answer to the mystery,
No proof of what had come before,
Only what my eyes had witnessed
Beyond São Vicente's rocky shore.

For I had spent a lifetime sailing,
And countless hours beneath the sea,
Yet never had the ocean offered
Such a haunting mystery.

I rose at last toward the sunlight,
And left that road beneath the foam,
But something of that silent passage
Followed me across the oceans home.

The years have passed, the ships have sailed,
And distant ports have come and gone,
Yet still I see that road of white sand
Stretching silently beyond my home.

Perhaps it was the hand of nature,
Perhaps a story never told,
Perhaps the ocean simply offered
A glimpse of mysteries it untold.

And if someday another diver
Should find that road beneath the sea,
I wonder if they'll feel the wonder
That São Vicente gave to me.

For somewhere in the blue Atlantic,
Beyond the reach of chart and line,
There lies a road I once discovered,
And in my dreams, it still is mine.

I never found the lost Atlantis,
Nor claimed to know what lay beyond.
I only found a road beneath the ocean,
And a mystery that lives to be unfold.

— Vincent C. DaSilva
São Vicente, Cabo Verde — A memory from a United Nations voyage