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.
Milca Ti Lidia
Cesária Évora Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
N'preferi ba guerra na Guiné
Do qui ba pa monda na Monte
Ta quêxa dor na curva
Milca Ti Lidia fla
N'preferi ba guerra na Guiné
Do qui ba pa monda na Monte
Anda caminho longe
Inda por cima sucur
Enxada na catche
Nha pé dja bira bêdje
Di tanto da topada
Na madrugada
Di tanto da topada
Na madrugada
Anda caminho longe
Inda por cima sucur
Enxada na catche
Nha pé dja bira bêdje
Di tanto da topada
Na madrugada
Di tanto da topada
Na madrugada
Milca Ti Lídia fla
Manha hora qui galo canta
Di sémola so ka nhôs tchoman
Dixan durmi nha sono
Milca Ti Lídia fla
Manha hora qui galo canta
Di sémola so ka nhôs tchoman
Dixan durmi nha sono
...
Ta cai um brufinha Cambra t'avisa Port inter
Pa ba labanta parede
Pamo limarias di Morro
Cu Cadjeta ta tchiga Monte
Na madrugada.
Di tanto da topada
Na madrugada
Ta cai um brufinha Cambra t'avisa Port inter
Pa ba labanta parede
Pamo limarias di Morro
Cu Cadjeta ta tchiga Monte
Na madrugada.
Di tanto da topada
Na madrugada
Di tanto da topada
Na madrugada
Di tanto da topada
Na madrugada
...
The lyrics to Cesaria Evora's song Milca Ti Lidia tell the story of two women named Milca and Lidia who prefer to go to war in Guinea rather than work harvesting crops in the mountains where they feel pain in their backs. The song describes their long journey on foot with their hoe, and the hardships they face on the way, including stumbling in the dark and being tired from lack of sleep. Milca and Lidia talk about how they don't let the rooster's call for breakfast interrupt their sleep, and how they have to lift stones in Port inter to build walls. The inspiration for the song is unclear, but it may draw from the difficult lives many women on the Cape Verdean islands faced due to poverty and political instability.
The repetition of the line "ta quexa dor na curva" contributes to the song's haunting melody and the pain the women experience. The song highlights the determination of these women to fight for what they believe in, even if it means putting themselves in danger. The lines "di tanto na topada na madrugada" show the struggle of walking long distances at night, echoing the daily hardships of working-class women in Cape Verde.
Line by Line Meaning
Milca Ti Lidia fla
The woman named Milca Ti Lidia says
N'preferi ba guerra na Guiné
I prefer to go to war in Guinea
Do qui ba pa monda na Monte
Rather than going to Monte to harvest
Ta quêxa dor na curva
She complains of pain at the curve
Anda caminho longe
Walking a long distance
Inda por cima sucur
Still on top of thorns
Enxada na catche
With a hoe in the hand
Nha pé dja bira bêdje
My foot has turned black
Di tanto da topada
From so much stumbling
Na madrugada
In the early morning
Milca Ti Lídia fla
Milca Ti Lidia says again
Manha hora qui galo canta
When the rooster crows early in the morning
Di sémola so ka nhôs tchoman
You won't have my porridge
Dixan durmi nha sono
Let me sleep
Ta cai um brufinha Cambra t'avisa Port inter
A little bug falls, Cambra warns you of the Port entrance
Pa ba labanta parede
To build a wall
Pamo limarias di Morro
Because of the limarias on the hill
Cu Cadjeta ta tchiga Monte
With Cadjeta they reach Monte
Na madrugada.
In the early morning.
Di tanto da topada
From so much stumbling
Na madrugada
In the early morning
Di tanto da topada
From so much stumbling
Na madrugada
In the early morning
Contributed by Austin I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Sol Star
2019 Ninguna como Cesaria. Cantante, interprete, genio de la melodia. Todavia sigue vigente. Incomparable, aun desaparecida puede competir con jovencitas y otros estilos de musica y las deja lejos. Ejemplo para las nuevas cantantes.
Maria Gloria Cervantes
completamente de acuerdo contigo es extraordinaria
Maria Eugenia Hidalgo
Única Cesaría. Tocas las fibras del corazón.
Martine Agnez
quelle voix, quelle chanson, quel rythme, quels musiciens ! Fantastique Césaria !
hilda Martin
GRACIAS MIL GRACIAS; POR TAN DULCE VOZ.
Edina Roggero
Maravilhosa Cesaria Evora. Descanse em paz
Pedro Pablo Tobon Gomez
LA ORQUESTA DE CESARIA ERA HECHA PARA ELLA. GRANDIOSO TALENTO HUMANO
campeonpp
Extraordinaria Evora y una orquesta de otro mundo
Fernandes Kim
Linda musica muito obrigado cesaria evora
Светлана Нусиповна
........ Леди богиня любви вселенной !!!!!!! 💅💅💅👒👑🎶💎💄🚬 ........