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.

Areia De Salamansa
Cesária Évora Lyrics

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Na areia di Salamansa
Mi ma bô so ta anda'
Mar brabo ta tchora'
Nôs destino desigual

Na areia di Salamansa
Mi ma bô so ta anda'
Mar brabo ta tchora'

Nôs destino desigual

Dexa'm nina-bo bôs lagrima
Sorri pa mi criola
Nha coraçon ta fica
P'al bem ama-bo...

Ma sim ka morrê
Um dia 'm ta volta'
Pa 'm bem beja-bô
Nem si perdida
E desprezada
Pa povo di Mindelo...

Ma sim ka morrê
Um dia 'm ta volta'
Pa 'm bem beja-bô
Nem si perdida
E desprezada
Pa povo di Mindelo...

...

Na areia di Salamansa
Mi ma bô so ta anda'
Mar brabo ta tchora'
Nôs destino desigual

Dexa'm nina-bo bôs lagrima
Sorri pa mi criola
Nha coraçon ta fica
P'al bem ama-bo...

Ma sim ka morrê
Um dia 'm ta volta'
Pa 'm bem beja-bô
Nem si perdida
E desprezada
Pa povo di Mindelo...

Ma sim ka morrê
Um dia 'm ta volta'
Pa 'm bem beja-bô
Nem si perdida

E desprezada
Pa povo di Mindelo...

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Cesária Évora's song "Areia De Salamansa" tell a story of two people walking together along the beach of Salamansa, while the wild sea roars in the background. The singer acknowledges that their destinies are unequal, and yet she asks her companion not to cry and to smile for her sake. She expresses her love for him, and even though she may die someday, she promises to return to him and their hometown of Mindelo, even if she is lost and rejected by others.

The song is a reflection of the emotions and challenges that the people of Cape Verde, and particularly those from Mindelo, faced in the mid-20th century. The island was a hub for migration, and many people had to leave their homes and loved ones behind to find work and opportunities elsewhere. The lyrics of the song capture the longing, love, and hope that migrants held onto as they navigated their uncertain futures.

Line by Line Meaning

Na areia di Salamansa
Walking alone on Salamansa beach

Mi ma bô so ta anda'
I walk alone with you in my mind

Mar brabo ta tchora'
The rough sea cries out

Nôs destino desigual
Our destinies are different

Dexa'm nina-bo bôs lagrima
Let me wipe your tears away

Sorri pa mi criola
Smile for me, my Creole girl

Nha coraçon ta fica
My heart stays behind

P'al bem ama-bo...
To love you even more

Ma sim ka morrê
But I won't die

Um dia 'm ta volta'
One day I will return

Pa 'm bem beja-bô
To see you again