José Carlos Schwarz

Who is José Carlos Schwarz?

José Carlos Schwarz was born in Bissau on 6 December 1949 to a family of mixed Cape Verdean, Portuguese Guinean, and German descent. After schooling in Senegal and Cape Verde and a stay in Lisbon, he returned home in 1969 and in 1970 formed the band Cobiana Djazz, which popularized gumbe, a homegrown West African music style blending Guinean rhythms with jazz and Latin influences. He became active in the resistance against Portuguese colonial rule and was arrested, tortured by the political police (PIDE/DGS), and imprisoned for two years on Ilha das Galinhas for his role in the independence struggle. After Guinea-Bissau's independence in 1974 he was appointed director of the country's Department for Art and Culture, shaping early cultural and youth policy. In 1977 he took up a diplomatic post at Guinea-Bissau's embassy in Cuba. On 27 May 1977 he died in a plane crash near Havana at the age of twenty-seven, alongside other Guinea-Bissau officials. He left behind three albums and a large body of poetry and is remembered as one of the country's most important cultural figures.

Sources: Fundação José Carlos Schwarz, "Biografia" · Pan African Music, "José Carlos Schwarz, the decolonial legend from Guinea-Bissau" · African Studies Centre Leiden, "José Carlos Schwarz"