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.
PASSEIO SAMBA
Cesária Évora Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Passei a noite inteira na janela
Esperando por ela
Ela chegou de madrugada
Chorando e não me disse nada
Passei a noite inteira na janela
Ela chegou de madrugada
Chorando e não me disse nada
Pedi uma explicação
Soluçando ela me dizia
Fora passar de mão em mão
Amanhã será outro dia
Pedi uma explicação
Soluçando ela me dizia
Fora passar de mão em mão
Amanhã será outro dia
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Passei a noite inteira na janela
Esperando por ela
Ela chegou de madrugada
Chorando e não me disse nada
Passei a noite inteira na janela
Esperando por ela
Ela chegou de madrugada
Chorando e não me disse nada
Pedi uma explicação
Soluçando ela me dizia
Fora passar de mão em mão
Amanhã será outro dia
Pedi uma explicação
Soluçando ela me dizia
Fora passar de mão em mão
Amanhã será outro dia
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
…
The lyrics to Cesária Évora's "Passeio Samba" tell the story of a man waiting and worrying for his lover all night, only for her to return in the early hours of the morning, crying and without explanation for her absence. When he presses her for answers, she tearfully admits to having been with other men. She tells him that tomorrow is a new day, hinting at the possibility of starting over, but the weight of her actions has already taken hold.
The song conveys a sense of longing, betrayal, and eventual resignation, with the repeated refrains of "La la la ra ra ra..." adding a mournful, almost haunting quality to the piece. Throughout, Cesária Évora's smooth yet emotive voice carries the emotional weight of the story, conveying the depth of the singer's pain and confusion.
Line by Line Meaning
Passei a noite inteira na janela
I spent the whole night by the window
Esperando por ela
Waiting for her
Ela chegou de madrugada
She arrived at dawn
Chorando e não me disse nada
Crying and not telling me anything
Pedi uma explicação
I asked for an explanation
Soluçando ela me dizia
Sobbing, she told me
Fora passar de mão em mão
That she had been passed from hand to hand
Amanhã será outro dia
But tomorrow will be another day
Lá lá lá ra ra ra...
La la la ra ra ra...
Contributed by Jacob M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Silvia Baltar
Amo a Cesaria y lamento no tenerla ya entre nosotros 😪
николай матвиенко
Прекрасно!!!
Emilio Arango
Belleza!!
carlos rui furtado gomes gomes
linda musica
Avi Mathias
My always favourite Cesaria Evora
אורי קליין
אכן אי אפשר להפסיק לשמוע אותה.
Fabio
Bel pezzo!