Cesária Évora (1941-2011) was a morna singa from Cape Verde. She was known… Read Full Bio ↴Cesária Évora (1941-2011) was a morna singa from Cape Verde. She was known as the "barefoot diva" because of her propensity to appear on stage in her bare feet in support of the homeless and poor women and children of her country.
Born on the 27th August 1941 in the port town of Mindelo, Cape Verde, on the island of São Vicente. Long known as the queen of the morna, a soulful genre (related to the Portuguese fado) sung in Creole-Portuguese, she mixed her sentimental folk tunes filled with longing and sadness with the acoustic sounds of guitar, cavaquinho, violin, accordion, and clarinet. Évora's Cape Verdean blues often spoke of the country's history of isolation and slave trade, as well as emigration; almost two-thirds of the million Cape Verdeans alive live abroad.
Évora's voice, a finely-tuned, melancholy instrument with a touch of hoarseness, highlighted her emotional phrasing by accenting a word or phrase. Even audiences who do not understand her language could be held spell-bound by the emotions evident in her performances.
In 2004 she won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album.
A heavy smoker for decades, Évora was diagnosed with heart problems in 2005. She suffered strokes in 2008 and in September 2011, when she announced she was retiring. She died at the age of seventy in São Vicente, Cape Verde on the 17th December 2011 from respiratory failure and hypertension. A Spanish newspaper reported that forty-eight hours before her death she was still receiving people in her home in Mindelo, popular for always having its doors open.
Born on the 27th August 1941 in the port town of Mindelo, Cape Verde, on the island of São Vicente. Long known as the queen of the morna, a soulful genre (related to the Portuguese fado) sung in Creole-Portuguese, she mixed her sentimental folk tunes filled with longing and sadness with the acoustic sounds of guitar, cavaquinho, violin, accordion, and clarinet. Évora's Cape Verdean blues often spoke of the country's history of isolation and slave trade, as well as emigration; almost two-thirds of the million Cape Verdeans alive live abroad.
Évora's voice, a finely-tuned, melancholy instrument with a touch of hoarseness, highlighted her emotional phrasing by accenting a word or phrase. Even audiences who do not understand her language could be held spell-bound by the emotions evident in her performances.
In 2004 she won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album.
A heavy smoker for decades, Évora was diagnosed with heart problems in 2005. She suffered strokes in 2008 and in September 2011, when she announced she was retiring. She died at the age of seventy in São Vicente, Cape Verde on the 17th December 2011 from respiratory failure and hypertension. A Spanish newspaper reported that forty-eight hours before her death she was still receiving people in her home in Mindelo, popular for always having its doors open.
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At the Olympia
Cesária Évora Lyrics
Angola Ess vida sabe qu'nhôs ta vivê Parodia dia e note manché Se…
Bia 'M morà perto di mar Perto di mar cu ceu Longe di…
Bia D'Lulucha Menina Bia Lulucha Corda bô t'olha Bô cretcheu ta bai Ta bai…
Cinturão Tem Mele Tava influida ta dansa Um tcha tcha tcha Ta dansa ta ingui…
Cize Um raio de luz, senta na bo rosto Ele lumiam caminho,…
Cumpade Ciznone Quase tudo dia tità 'contecé Uns cose 'stronhe li na nôs…
Estanhadinha O mnina, bô tem um carinda stanhadinha Bô ta tcheu d'vaidad…
Lua Nha Testemunha Bô ka ta pensâ Nha kretxeu Nen bô ka t'imajiâ, O k'lonj d…
Mar Azul O Mar, detá quitinho bô dixam bai Bô dixam bai spiá…
Miss Perfumado Dixa'm morrê ta sonhá Na sombra di odjo magoado Duma peque…
Papa Joachim Paris Father Joaquim Paris, will you please excuse me For one and…
Sodade Quem mostra' bo Ess caminho longe? Quem mostra' bo Ess ca…
Vida Tem Um So Vida Sô na madrugada di um note sem fim Na estrada na…