• Music

Feliciano “Flash” Vierra Tavares

b. 1920- d. 2008

Father of the musically driven Tavares family, “Flash” Tavares was known for filling the Foxpoint community with Cape Verdean melodies.  Born into a family of 10,  his mother immigrated from Sao Nicolau in the Cape Verde Islands while his father was born in Santiago.  Like many Fox Pointers, Flash was a self-taught musician who cultivated his remarkable musical intuition by listening to radio tunes as a child.  Far from formal, Flash plucked his first strings on a hand-made ukulele only to graduate to a Salvation-Army donated two-string guitar at the age of seven.  Flash jammed with various local Fox Point groups touring throughout New England and New York in the 1940’s .  He often performed duets alongside his sister, Vickie Vieira Tavares.  Flash was inducted into the 2006 Cape Verdean Museum Exhibit Hall of Fame  for not only bringing together the Cape Verdean community with his blues beats and warming voice, but for his smooth fusing of jazz and traditional Cape Verdean sound. He died at age 88 in his home of Hyannis, MA, and is succeeded by his talented sons of the band, Tavares.

– Jeanine Mason & Cheyenne Morrin

Image Source (Top): - The Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame Historical Archive -

1950s

Flash and Vickie perform at Christmas Mass

Flash Tavares said that he and his sister got their musical start performing at local churches and halls, specifically the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus. They performed sometimes at special Masses,  including Christmas and Easter. - Jeanine Mason

Flash and Vickie wow club members at the Cape Verdean Progressive Center

Flash and Vickie began performing at local venues, and often came to the Cape Verdean Progressive Center to perform "when there was only a bar in the front." The siblings are well known and well-loved at the Center, and have returned several times in old age to again put on a show for their community, including a special performance in 2001. - Jeanine Mason

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