Kim Alves
With his ear attuned to the rhythms and melodies of his native Cape Verde since birth, it could be argued Kim Alves’s first language was music. The son of a bricklayer (and virtuoso violinist), Alves built an exceptional musical foundation one instrument and one style at a time. As other kids were learning to walk and talk, Alves (born Joaquim Fernandes Pina Alves in 1966 in the Cape Verdean capital of Praia), was shaking a handmade “baby rattle,” a shaker made by filling tin cans with black thorn seeds. At just 6 years old, he joined his father’s band for dances, providing the rattlesnake rhythms under the beat. By the time he was 7, Alves demonstrated prodigy on instruments from cavaquinho to viola to guitar--a feat made all the more remarkable because, as a left-hander, Alves had to learn to play right-handed guitars upside down.
Alves’ skills were so notable that in a contest in Praia against the finest musicians in the country, Alves was judged the best string player ... at a mere 11 years old! A personal interest in all Cape Verdean musical genres, as well as his leading role in numerous bands, led Kim to a graduate school of Cape Verdean music. At 17 years old, Alves landed a spot in the Abel Djassi Ensemble, the landmark band that he would lead for nearly a decade. It was in this Ensemble that Alves took up keyboard, which he approached with such daring and inventiveness that it redefined the instrument in Cape Verdean music and became his calling card.
Following a passion for the communal nature of music, Alves became an accomplished engineer and a top producer, establishing himself at studios in Cape Verde, Portugal and ultimately the United States. In doing so, he helped launch the careers of not only fellow Cape Verdean musicians but Haitian and Jamaican artists. Indeed, Alves became such a sought-after player and producer that he was awarded a first-degree merit medal by then-Cape Verde Prime Minister José Maria Neves before he turned 40. This was the first of three nation-scale awards that he has received in recognition of his contributions to Cape Verdean music. Today, Alves’s remarkable musical journey continues in Providence, Rhode Island, where he is inspiring musicians in the city’s Cape Verdean community and beyond.
