This soulful album has the seamless feel of a longtime collaboration, an imaginative journey across the Portuguese-speaking world that blends fado roots with improv jazz and sultry Middle Eastern harmonies. A fine debut and an enchanting musical voyage around a big ‘small world’ indeed.
​Songlines Magazine UK 2024
**** stars album review
​
​​
Cacha Mundinho captivated the audience with a mesmerizing fusion of Lusophone influences, as Joana Almeida’s sultry vocals, alongside the dynamic rhythms of Sjahin During, Pedro Ivo Ferreira, and the enchanting melodies of Maripepa Contreras, created an unforgettable musical journey.
Maxazine ,by Jan de Leeuw (2024)
​
​
​
Cacha Mundinho, led by Joana Almeida, has evolved into a true "musical gem." Almeida has fully embraced her role as a vocalist, wielding her voice with both power and finesse, offering the audience captivating and surprising arrangements. Maripepa Contreras continues to shine as an instrumental force, and the group engages even the youngest audience members, winning over everyone in the crowd.
Mixed World Music NL, by Ton Maas 2024
​
A suitcase full of beautiful songs and stories, at Ham Sessions Festival in Gent, Belgium!
We are in great company here, subtle percussion, bowed bass, soulful duduk and oboe, acoustic guitar and Portuguese vocals. The music of Cacha Mundinho, brings stories and musical influences from the past and present. And fado is also reflected in their music. Almeida was one of the very first female fado guitarists in Portugal. She immersed herself in popular and traditional Portuguese music, bossa nova and jazz.
Concert review by Jazzradar (2024)
​
Joana Almeida drives us through her musical sources of inspiration based on examples she has chosen and talks about the debut Cacha Mundinho's album - Vento do Mar.
Acoustic Moods - Concertzender (2024)
​
"Vento de Mar" is a truly beautiful debut album by the young singer and composer Joana Almeida, who is virtually unknown in the Netherlands. But that will soon change!
Music Frames by Matti Poels (2024)
​
Cacha Mundinho is the group around singer-songwriter and guitarist Joana Almeida, originally from Portugal and living in Amsterdam for several years. The group has released a very special album with Vento do Mar with elements from Portugal, the Middle East, Africa, Brazil and India! Cacha Mundinho also shows the influences of Arabic music and gives its own sound to the music of the Lusophone Portuguese-speaking world. Written in
Music by Rik van Boeckel (2024)
​
Singersong writer Joana Almeida certainly does not identify herself as a 'singer with a band', but presents herself as a primus inter pares, sometimes with vocalises in addition to the prominent oboe and duduk parts of Maripepa Contreras. With the deep bass of Pedro Ferreira and the adventurous and tasteful percussion of Sjahin During, it creates a completely unique sound world.
Jazzflits magazine by Herman te Loo (2024)
​​
​
​
Convincing debut from this Amsterdam quartet around singer and guitarist Joana Almeida. Percussionist Sjahin During paints evocative sound landscapes and provides sharp accents and surprising breaks, while (alto) oboist Maripepa Contreras offers melodic response to Almeida's vocal lines as well as blows the stars away with free improvisation. Pedro Ivo Ferreira (double bass) contributes colorful pieces.
Mixed World Music by Ton Maas (2023)
​
​
An international quartet, an unusual line-up and a jazzy approach, in which the surprising percussion plays a significant and playful role. The arrangements are fabulously beautiful. Just listen to how they start a song like Canto de Vida. I find that breathtakingly beautiful. And that goes for this entire album – the songs are great, the singing is beautiful, and all four musicians are phenomenally good, and they play phenomenally well together too. Beautiful, beautiful!
Moors Magazine (2023)
​
​​
​
This time we turn the spotlight on Portuguese/Amsterdam band Cacha Mundinho. The name it comes from Cape Verdian and means “Catch a small world”. They make an exciting mix of the influences of fado, jazz, morna and Brazilian music!
Concertzender by Ab de Haas (2023)
​​
​
A journey through the lusophone world. This quartet of experienced musicians has been around for less than a year and brings an original and infectious mix of bossa, fado & jazz.
World Music Forum Netherlands (2022)
​
​​
​
The songs Almeida writes have little to do with traditional fado. Like Fernando Lameirinhas, she is actually a singer-songwriter who uses her own language. With her it is certainly not only melancholy what you hear. A lot of pieces are up-tempo and swinging, which offers her fellow musicians many starting points to unpack rhythmically.
Mixed World Music NL, by Ton Maas (2022)
​​
​
​