Norberto Tavares returned to his home country for the first time in seventeen years in June 1990 as part of a Tropical Power tour managed by Jorge Fidalgo and Pedro Martins. The tour included several concerts in Santiago (Praia, Assomada, Tarrafal, and Pedra Badejo), as well as multiple events on the islands of São Vicente (in Mindelo) and one in Santo Antão (in Paul). Altogether, tens of thousands came to the shows, including top government officials concerned with what Tavares had to say. Before the tour, the Praia newspaper Voz di Povo featured a story on Tavares and his new LP Jornada di un badiu, updating Cabo Verdean readers on Tavares’s activities in the US and on the tour details. The journalist commended Tavares’s first solo album Volta pa fonti as a landmark in Cabo Verdean discography, and acknowledged great interest in his second solo album, completed single-handedly in his studio. A strong audience waited at home for Tavares’s return with new works. Before the tour, Tavares primed his audience with the promise of the second solo album containing new messages for Cabo Verdeans. One article ended with a promise from Tavares: “Cabo Verdean people, everything has its time. The year 1990 will be my time to return to Cabo Verde to spend beautiful moments with you.”

Tropical Power’s concert tour was controversial because Tavares’s reputation as a social critic and fighter for social justice was already well-established: his return was closely followed by the media and his followers to see what he might do next. Some rumors suggested that his visit had been arranged to support a particular politician, party, or agenda, but Tavares strongly denied this, and insisted that the true goal of his music was to help his people. Generally speaking, Tavares was loath to ally with a particular political party. He often said that an alliance to any single party line would interfere with his ability to speak freely about things that are not right in Cabo Verdean society. Although some suggested Tavares hadn’t returned home earlier because of fears of retaliation or imprisonment after releasing critical works like Mundo sta di boita (1982), Tavares denied this as well, maintaining he had been invited by the government several times in the 1980s, but personal circumstances hadn’t been right to return any earlier.