Dorchester resident Vanusa Santos was the featured singer on April 6 at the 19th annual Cape Verdean-Jewish Passover Seder in Roxbury, where participants shared cachupa (Cape Verdean) and kugel (Jewish), and their families’ stories of immigration and hardships.

A roomful of Cape Verdeans gathered in the Presidential Palace in Praia, the capital of Cabo Verde, joined in remotely for the event, which was conducted in English and Cape Verdean Creole.

Samantha Robinson, the emcee for the event in Boston, said: “At a time in this country when there are forces that seek to divide us and make us think that certain groups are to be feared, this event brings these two groups together to share our cultures; to find commonalities, as well as differences; to build unity; and ultimately to pledge to stand with each other when attacks come.”

Vocal performances were a big part of the celebration. In an unexpected move, the Jewish singer Juliata Cohen performed in Praia, while the Cape Verdean performer Vanusa Santos, of Dorchester, took to the stage in Boston.

Cohen, who was born in France to Jewish parents from Morocco and Tunisia and grew up in Israel, has lived in Cabo Verde for the past five years. She sang a Cape Verdean song in Cape Verdean Creole and Hebrew.

Santos offered the event an original song of hope in Cape Verdean Creole, very much in line with the theme of the event. She is singer, a songwriter, and, recently, a poet, having published a book entitled “Reconstructing My Identity.”

Among the attendees in Boston were state Sen. Liz Miranda and Cape Verdean Consul General Octavio Gomes. In Praia, fifty people, including Jennifer Adams, US Ambassador to Cabo Verde, were on hand.

This annual event highlights how in the wake of two waves of Jewish immigration to Cape Verde and generations of intermarriage, many Cape Verdeans have Jewish ancestors and live together in Greater Boston, Rhode Island, and in many places around the world. The seder is structured around the time of the Jewish holiday of Passover, which commemorates the biblical liberation and exodus of Jewish slaves from Egypt.