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They blended them with Cape Verdean rhythms to create new sounds.

Early written records of Cape Verdean music are scarce - the Portuguese colonists did not document life and society on Cape Verde other than records of taxes and commodities.

When she was a young child and taking too long to get ready for school, family get-togethers or to sing in the church choir, Cape Verdean musician Carmen Souza was often told to "ariope".

Many younger Cape Verdean musicians tend not to play the islands' older rhythms, and some like the contradança are slowly dying out.

She has combined jazz and English sea shanties with Cape Verdean rhythms - including the funaná, played on an iron rod with a knife and the accordion, and the batuque, played by women and based on African drumming rhythms.