By Ney Miranda [email protected]

I was born in 1973 in a small island called Brava.. its the smallest island in Cape Verde,Cape Verde is only 10 small islands,right off west coast of Africa. . my parents named me Emanuel Miranda, nick name (Ney)

As a child I had musicians in my family, my father played Violin,my grandfather, brothers etc..im also the fifth generation grandson of the great Eugenio Taveres, so I was around music all the time..I started playing when I was about 6 years old, my first instrument was ukulele (cavakinho) I remember clearly, i went to a carnaval parade and there was alot of people singing and dancing,there was also musician playing and I was there just staring at the ukulele player playing,so after I went home and grabbed my ukulele and just started playing out of nowhere..so from.there on i kept on learning even more..as a kid When I was in Brava some friends invited me to join a local band ,that was the first band I ever played with,but we didn't have any real instruments or anything like that,it was more or less home made instruments..then when I was about 12/13 years old,me and my family imigrated to the United States of America 🇺🇸 when we got here, life was much different than what i was used to .. the food the culture way of life was different, but I adapted to the American way of life pretty quick .

I started playing at church when I was about 14 years old—I was an altar boy. As time went on I remember the first time my cousin took me to a concert where he was performing with his band, the name of the band was Cabo Verde 77. He called me on stage to go and play a song, and being so young with a guitar bigger than i was,caught the audience's attention! They gathered around the stage to watch and hear this young little cute kid play. So as I'm playing they started giving me money. I must've came home with about $300 to $400 dollars that night. In 1980’s that was a lot of money—especially for a kid my age..that was my first appearance on a big stage in America,but definitely wouldn't be my last..then few years went by i got called to play with different bands I was about 16/17 years of age

I had played with “brothers band,a little band we made with my friends from school but they needed a guitar player so I moved on to playing guitar 🎸 then when I was a little older I would say in my 20's

I got called to play with the best and biggest band at that time(Jamm Band) which by then I was learning keyboard synthesizer. Jamm band lead singer Bius may he RIP saw me playing keyboard and was amazed at how quick I was learning, so he invited me to play with Jamm Band..I was so excited because at that time everyone talked about how good Jamm Band was,so for me ro get in a bad @$$ band like that was and honor and a privilege..that was around 1991 to 1992 that I got in that band..so I started getting recognized by alot of top musicians out there..1991 i was invited to travel to Cape Verde with “Os Pecos band” to perform. but by then i was playing bass guitar...that's when I started traveling the world.. another Band in particular that called me was tbe Mendes Brothers band..they was known in various (pallops countries. So I started gigging with them and we did alot of traveling,to countries in Africa like,Cabo Verde, Angola,Mozambique, Guine,South Africa etc..I also performed with them in Portugal. Around that time is when I started doing alot of recordings of my own,I was invited to record with top Cape Verdean Artists such as Bana,Tito Paris,Mirri Lobo,Grace Evora etc

This picture was in France 🇫🇷 👆also.in tbe 90's ..I performed with alot of top artists like the great Norberto Tavares.

This picture was taken in Gamboa festival around 2000+ in Cape Verde Island..we got together with some of the local musicians and artists here in the states and we went and performed,good times and great shows we did.

This picture right here was in Alabama at a world music festival,with the artist, singer from Cape Verde Fantcha.we also travel to California and few other states with Fantcha..

This was in California..while we was performing in Cali we also opened for alot world renowned Artist such as Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil.