During his last decade Norberto Tavares’s creative output included multiple musical collaborations, a short solo compact disc, a “Greatest Hits” release, and a final concert in Cabo Verde. While his health waned, Tavares’s reputation as a unique voice among Cabo Verdean postcolonial artists strengthened. His artistic legacy was formally recognized in a variety of ways. For example, Tavares performed at the 2005 Festival de Gamboa in Praia, acknowledging both his thirty-year career and thirty years of independence for Cabo Verde. This final trip home was documented in Journey of a Badiu: The Story of Cape Verdean-American Musician Norberto Tavares (Hurley-Glowa 2010). Tavares’s kidneys failed a year later, and required regular dialysis thereafter. A kidney transplant in 2009 didn’t return Tavares to good health, but he was able to experience affirmation of his life’s work before passing away on December 26, 2010. Those closest to him say that he became increasingly spiritual and at peace with his destiny in his last years.

New Messages, Last Projects: 2000–2005

Norberto Tavares’s priorities remained making music with messages for his people. As conditions in Cabo Verde changed over time, Tavares addressed new issues in his songs in response. The MpD party didn’t fulfill his high expectations as the 1990s progressed, creating concerns big and small about Cabo Verde’s path, from the MpD party’s pro-NATO alliances and economic decisions to its choice of a national anthem and flag design that played down Cabo Verde’s connections to Africa. Tavares recognized that Cabo Verde’s lack of developed resources and neglect during colonialism made the work of any regime a great challenge, but he was disappointed that campaign promises weren’t being realized. Tavares worried that the Cabo Verdean government was selling off national assets too cheaply and without careful thought about how sales would benefit the entire population. Moreover, Tavares believed it was a mistake to once again closely align the economy with Portugal. In hindsight, Tavares was pointing out problems relating to neocolonialism, although he didn’t use that term.

Tavares also worried about new cultural values in postcolonial Cabo Verde, especially about what he saw as conspicuous consumption and the abandonment of Cabo Verdean ways for those found in the outside world—in other words, he was concerned about cultural imperialism, although he didn’t use that term, either.