---
title: Live music in Mindelo
teaser: Morna, coladeira, funaná — where to hear the real thing tonight, with the week's actual programme below.
liveCategory: live-music
tags: morna, coladeira, funaná, nightlife
draft: false
---

## The city that sings

Mindelo does not have a live-music scene; it has a live-music **habit**. Any
given night you can catch morna — the slow, saudade-drenched style Cesária
Évora carried to the world — in a harbour-front bar. A coladeira party spills
out of a bar somewhere in town. And in a backyard on Rua de Lisboa, a young
band is rehearsing funaná.

## How to use this guide

The listings below are **live** — they come straight from the city's event
calendar, not from this page. When a bar posts a gig through the guide, it
appears here automatically. What this guide adds is the map of *kinds* of
nights:

- **Harbour kiosks** — free entrada, touristic morna, best at dusk
- **Back-room bars** — where local musicians actually play; ask for the
  "sesão" and stay past midnight
- **Festival nights** — Baía das Gatas and the New Year stages book the big
  names; the rest of the year the big names play small rooms

## Etiquette, briefly

Clap after songs, not during. Tipping the band is a Cape Verdean tradition
(collecta). And if you can't dance coladeira, stand near the bar — the
rhythm will find you.