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.
Essência d'Vida
Cesária Évora Lyrics
O mar bem dam conta di nha cretcheu
Ki un dia ba pa terra lonji
O mar el bai mar e ceu
El dixam ta sanal ta txora
O mar bem dam conta di nha cretcheu
Ki un dia ba pa terra lonji
O mar el bai mar e ceu
El dixam ta sanal ta txora
El dixam na Praia ku nha lenso na mon
Ta fla adeus ku sodadi na corason
Navio ki leval ka torna trazel
O mar bem flam onde ki m′ta otxal
Mar nha distino
Mar bem dam conta di Lena
Bem fla o mar kuze ki tem
Ba tras di horizonti m'ta odjal m′ta txora
Bem fla o mar, kuzé ki tem
Ba tras di bo horizonti m'ta odjal m'ta txora
Navio ki leval ka torna trazel
Bem flam o mar onde ki m′ta otxa nha cretcheu
Mar nha distino
Mar bem dam conta di Lena
Bem fla o mar kuze ki tem
Ba tras di horizonti m′ta odjal m'ta txora
Bem flam o mar, onde ki m′ta odjal
Ba tras di bo horizonti m'ta odjal m′ta txora
Ki un dia ba pa terra lonji
O mar el bai mar e ceu
El dixam ta sanal ta txora
O mar bem dam conta di nha cretcheu
Ki un dia ba pa terra lonji
O mar el bai mar e ceu
El dixam ta sanal ta txora
El dixam na Praia ku nha lenso na mon
Ta fla adeus ku sodadi na corason
O mar bem flam onde ki m′ta otxal
Mar nha distino
Mar bem dam conta di Lena
Bem fla o mar kuze ki tem
Ba tras di horizonti m'ta odjal m′ta txora
Bem fla o mar, kuzé ki tem
Ba tras di bo horizonti m'ta odjal m'ta txora
Navio ki leval ka torna trazel
Bem flam o mar onde ki m′ta otxa nha cretcheu
Mar nha distino
Mar bem dam conta di Lena
Bem fla o mar kuze ki tem
Ba tras di horizonti m′ta odjal m'ta txora
Bem flam o mar, onde ki m′ta odjal
Ba tras di bo horizonti m'ta odjal m′ta txora
Writer(s): Constantino Jose Cardoso
Contributed by Adam P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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Liz He
Was listening this play at Vancouver convention centre when I was in vacation. The moonlight was shining on the waters and people were out and about and this was playing in the background. It was really beautiful
Marina Telegina
Oh Cesaria you hold me like that. Today I have been listening to this song without stopping for 70 races and I want to listen more and more. Thank you very much. Hope you can hear me in the sky.
Hector Lugo
Anyone have the lyrics? Tem alguem a letra desta canção? Si alquien tiene la letra, por favor, me gustaría obtenerla!
Gricel Jiménez Pedroza
Beleza <3