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.
Negue
Cesária Évora Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Diga que você já me esqueceu
Pise machucando com jeitinho
Esse coração que ainda é seu
Diga que o meu pranto é cobardia
Mas não esqueça que você
Foi meu um dia
Diga que já não me quer
Negue que me pertenceu
E eu mostro a boca molhada
Ainda marcada pelo beijo seu
Negue o seu amor seu carinho
Diga que você já me esqueceu
Pise machucando com jeitinho
Esse coração que ainda é seu
Diga que meu pranto é cobardia
Mas não esqueça que você
Foi meu um dia
Diga que já não me quer
Negue que me pertenceu
E eu mostro a boca molhada
Ainda marcada pelo beijo seu
Diga que já não me quer
Negue que me pertenceu
E eu mostro a boca molhada
Ainda marcada pelo beijo seu
Cesária Évora's song "Negue" is a beautiful yet melancholic ballad about heartbreak and denial. The song opens with the plea to deny love and affection, to say that the lover has been forgotten, and to tread softly on the heart that still belongs to the singer. The singer wants the lover to acknowledge that her tears are just a sign of weakness, but at the same time, she reminds him that he was once hers.
The chorus further conveys the singer's desire for the lover to deny their former love and to cause her pain. She threatens to show him the evidence of their physical connection, a mouth still wet and marked by his kiss. This suggests that the pain of the breakup was not only emotional but physical as well, and that even after their separation, the singer was still longing for him.
Overall, "Negue" is a complex and emotional song that captures the complicated feelings of heartbreak and nostalgia. The lyrics are beautifully crafted, and the melody is haunting and evocative, making it one of Cesária Évora's most memorable pieces.
Line by Line Meaning
Negue seu amor, o seu carinho
Reject your love, your affection
Diga que você já me esqueceu
Say that you have forgotten about me
Pise machucando com jeitinho
Tread softly but hurt me
Esse coração que ainda é seu
This heart that still belongs to you
Diga que o meu pranto é cobardia
Claim that my tears are cowardice
Mas não esqueça que você
Foi meu um dia
But don't forget that you were once mine
Diga que já não me quer
Say that you no longer want me
Negue que me pertenceu
Deny that you belonged to me
E eu mostro a boca molhada
Ainda marcada pelo beijo seu
And I'll show you my wet lips
Still marked by your kiss
Contributed by Bailey D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.