Her name is Elisa Domingas Salatiel Jamisse, but everyone knows her as Mingas. Owner of a sweet and deep voice, she has been leaving a mark on the lives of millions of Mozambicans for decades, and not only with the excitement and swing of her songs, which speak of love, challenges and achievements. Mingas was born in the 60s and, during the emergency period, was part of the group chosen to attend the teaching course. However, already at that time she had a well-developed artistic soul and chose to pursue a musical career. Shy, as she describes herself, it is through art and musical works that she opens up to the world and communicates. “I like to spend time with family and friends, but at the same time, I love having space for myself. I think it’s natural as a songwriter to need solitary moments to create.” As for musical initiation, it started at the Methodist Church, first in the children’s group Estrela and later, during adolescence, in the Patrulha group. “I and two young people, Silva Zunguze and Safrão Navesse, created a trio, introducing the acoustic guitar in our presentation at the church,” the singer recalls.
Asked if she is a woman of faith and if she continues to go to church, Mingas doesn’t hesitate: “From my youth until today I have been very sporadically going to church. To me, the most important thing is not to attend church every Sunday, but to conduct yourself properly on a daily basis.” Inspired by the beauty of nature, by the daily life of Mozambicans (joys, frustrations, challenges, conquests, love…) and by what hap- pens in the world in general, Mingas confides in us that, if she were not a singer, she might be a surgeon, which doesn’t surprise us, given her penchant for social causes.
Her fans remember her time at the Marrabenta Orchestra, and she even more so, with a certain nostalgia, recalling that the highlight of this experience was to sing for the first time, and to record the songs A Va Sati Va Lomu and Elisa Gomara Saia, and tours in Europe and Zimbabwe. And speaking of tours, we wanted to know from the artist what it was like to travel the country between 1982/83, in the middle of the war. “Very interesting, and important, because I got to know a little about the nature and people of the provincial capitals in the center and north of the country, except Niassa. Because of the war, the trips were by plane, mostly on an Antonov military plane. It would have been even better to know the country by land, but we were only able to do it until Inhambane.” Moved by music, she and her companions saw on those trips the chance to quench their thirst for sing- ing to another audience. According to her, Maputo had become small to guarantee them enough work for their subsistence. And she adds: “We played several times when in the end the payment would be in capulanas! Also note that, at the time, we were famous, and fans from other corners of the country paid to listen and watch us.”
One of the essential milestones of her career was her participation in the RM Group, but even when she took over the leadership of the group, Mingas managed to project the success that was coming. “I didn’t (predict success), as the late 80s and early 90s was a very difficult period. There were no venues to accommodate live music. For shows in large venues, we only had one or two promoters, who bet more on groups from abroad, to the detriment of nationals.” However, Mingas believed in her dream and had a lot of willpower to learn more from the RM Group. The same energy and confidence helped her look for or come up with reasons to produce concerts where she and the group could display the result of many months of rehearsal, an activity to which they dedicated themselves most of the time.
The jump to a solo career came after the experience she gained during the period in which she joined Miriam Makeba’s band as a backing vocalist. “The five years of working with Mama Africa solidified my confidence in myself and gave me more strength to take a chance.”
This drive that extends to the passion with which Mingas dedicates herself to the multiple social causes she embraces. Right now, the singer is dedicated to promoting better quality of education for all children, particularly girls; to advocating for children’s rights, and human and civil rights through art, in particular musical dialogue.
Text: Magda Arvelos
Photo: Jay Garrido
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