Lady Soares will turn 20 in September 2020. She was born in Lisbon and is the first person in her family to study at university. Her parents come from São Tomé e Príncipe and Cape Verde, two African countries that were colonised by the Portuguese. 

I’ve been involved with music ever since I was a child. At school I played percussion and was in the choir. One day when I was 11 years old my father saw some girls from my neighbourhood walking around with orchestra instruments and told me I should try and find out what they were doing. I discovered they were part of a project called Orquestra Geração, which promotes social engagement through music. It was founded in 2007 in my neighborhood, Casal de São Brás – or Casal da Boba, as most of us call it – in Amadora, which is north-west of Lisbon. It’s considered a “bad” neighbourhood because a lot of immigrants and poor people live here. But I feel very proud that I live in the same place where my orchestra started.

When I first enrolled I didn’t get the instrument I wanted, which was the cello. But the teachers convinced me to stay and try another, so I started playing the horn and now I love it. All our teachers are professional musicians, and they’re so supportive and motivating.

My first public performance was at the Aula Magna at the University of Lisbon campus. I had only been playing for three months but the teachers told me I already played really well, which gave me the boost I needed to get on stage. In 2014 I performed internationally for the first time in Turkey, and since then I’ve also played in Italy and Switzerland.

My mother loves music too. She sees herself as a singer and is self-taught – sometimes I say she took her singing course at  “the university of life”. She is part of a “batucadeiras”, a traditional Cape Verdian all-women percussion group. She wakes up listening to music and falls asleep listening to it, too – sometimes I even have to go into her room and turn her music off while she’s sleeping. She just loves listening to the songs she creates. And it makes me so proud because she never learnt how to read or write in school, and had to teach herself everything. She doesn't know that I’m proud of her, but I am.

My father was born in São Tomé e Príncipe, an island off the coast of Africa. He’s never had much contact with music but he always supports what I do. My parents want me to have a good career and succeed in life, just like most parents. And although they don’t say it out loud, they don’t believe music will help me achieve this. But they always support me and I think that’s what’s important. If I told them today that I need to play a concert at the bottom of the ocean, they’d say “Let’s go!” They can’t always come to see me perform because my father works at night and my mother is usually very tired from her job as a cleaner, but I completely understand. 

I have two brothers, one is 28 , who is the life of the neighbourhood, everybody knows him. He took an informatic course and now works at a supermarket.  And a younger one who is 10 and also at the Orquestra Geração. He got lucky and plays the violin. 

Coordinating school and the orchestra is complicated right now with the pandemic. It was really difficult juggling different remote classes and recordings, so I decided to prioritise school. But I don’t think we should demand too much of each other at the moment. I keep in contact with everybody but I’ll be honest, I prefer face-to-face contact. I think I’ve come across as a bit distant during the last few months, because I don’t always stay on top of answering texts and all of that. I got a mobile phone really late – I was 16, which is almost unthinkable for most people my age. So I’m more comfortable with face-to-face contact. 

But, as a black girl, born in Portugal with African parents, face-to-face contact can also be challenging because of the racism I often experience. Sometimes I feel too scared to ask for directions on the street in case I’m mistreated. Most of the people on my course are white and some of them often make racist comments. When I was in school I always had low grades, but when I took my university entrance exams I did really well. Some people might not believe that racism has anything to with it, but I don’t know.

Us musicians in the Orquestra Geração are often labeled as poor people with no money, or black kids with no opportunities who are just doing this because people feel sorry for us. And these generalisations undermine our work. It’s frustrating. I think that being a young person with dreams but no opportunities is the most frustrating thing for anyone, anywhere in the world. For me, it’s even more upsetting because when I was younger I thought Portugal was a wonderful place to live in terms of racial equality, but as I grew up I had to face a different reality. Some people tell me to “go back to my country” which is ridiculous. I was born in Portugal, I feel Portuguese, and I haven’t even ever been to my parents’ countries.

I think the internet plays a big role in this. People can openly write the “N” word or offensive, racist comments on social media. Before the internet, I didn’t really see how serious racism was. When George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight, lots of people I knew who shared stuff about it on social media were the same people I’ve seen telling racist jokes or not defending people when they’re victims of racist behaviour. You can’t be against the trafficking of human organs if you traffic them yourself, so to speak. 

So I think everyone should rethink their own behaviour before sharing any of these posts – say sorry to people you may have hurt and really get to understand the history of racism and colonialism in Portuguese society. We have to stop saying that we are all the same. I don’t agree. No one is the same. We are all different and that makes us special. But we all have the same rights and duties. 

Before studying music I wanted to study psychology. Ever since I was little I loved trying to understand people’s minds – how they work and what drives them. Music is something that touches people, but I want to go even deeper. So my goal is to finish my music course and study psychology, and then integrate both in my professional practice. I’d like to use music as therapy, and help people with mental health issues and autism. I think everything will work out fine – I just need plenty of focus.