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.
Pomba
Cesária Évora Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
M'compra boina na monti limpo
Pa m'ba ronca na Somada
M'compra calça pano bitcho
M'compra camisa tabelado
M'compra boina na monti limpo
Pa m'ba ronca na Somada
Subi Somada
A bô di diante, a mi ditras
Corrê pa pê la n'Arturo Santos
Subi Somada
A bô di diante, a mi ditras
Corrê pa pê la n'Arturo Santos
Oi pomba, oi pomba
Oi pomba, pomba sta nobo mê!
Oi pomba, oi pomba
Oi pomba, pomba sta nobo mê!
M'compra calça pano bitcho
M'compra camisa tabelado
M'compra boina na monti limpo
Pa m'ba ronca na Somada
M'compra calça pano bitcho
M'compra camisa tabelado
M'compra boina na monti limpo
Pa m'ba ronca na Somada
Subi Somada
A bô di diante, a mi ditras
Corrê pa pê la n'Arturo Santos
Subi Somada
A bô di diante, a mi ditras
Corrê pa pê la n'Arturo Santos
Oi pomba, oi pomba
Oi pomba, pomba sta nobo mê!
Oi pomba, oi pomba
Oi pomba, pomba sta nobo mê!
Subi Somada
A bô di diante, a mi ditras
Corrê pa pê la n'Arturo Santos
Subi Somada
A bô di diante, a mi ditras
Corrê pa pê la n'Arturo Santos
Oi pomba, oi pomba
Oi pomba, pomba sta nobo mê!
Oi pomba, oi pomba
Oi pomba, pomba sta nobo mê!
Oi pomba, oi pomba
Oi pomba, pomba sta nobo mê!
Oi pomba, oi pomba
Oi pomba, pomba sta nobo mê!
The lyrics of Cesária Évora's song Pomba are about a man who is asking someone to buy him clothes, including a hat and a clean shirt, because he wants to go out and party in Somada. Somada is a neighborhood or an area in a city, and the man seems excited to be going there. He repeats the lines about buying him clothes several times throughout the song, as if he wants to ensure that the person buying him clothes doesn't forget anything. The chorus, "Oi pomba, pomba sta nobo mê!" translates to "Oh dove, the dove is new to me!" which may be a reference to feeling youthful and rejuvenated, or to the fact that the man is going somewhere he hasn't been before.
The repeated lines about buying clothes could represent the man's excitement for the occasion and his desire to look good for it. The mention of Somada and Arturo Santos suggests that these names are significant to the man or the culture he belongs to, although it is unclear what they represent. Overall, the song seems to be about enjoying life and celebrating by going out and having a good time, perhaps with a sense of anticipation for what lies ahead.
Line by Line Meaning
M'compra camisa tabelado
Buy me a T-shirt with stripes
M'compra boina na monti limpo
Buy me a beret on the clean mountain
Pa m'ba ronca na Somada
So I can sleep in Somada
M'compra calça pano bitcho
Buy me pants made of coarse fabric
Subi Somada
Climbed up Somada
A bô di diante, a mi ditras
You in front, me behind
Corrê pa pê la n'Arturo Santos
Run towards Arturo Santos
Oi pomba, oi pomba
Hey dove, hey dove
Oi pomba, pomba sta nobo mê!
Hey dove, this dove is new to me!
Contributed by Tyler R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Георгий Токарев
Голос Cesária Évora будут слушать многие поколения людей, потому что её песни трогают сердце. Вечная память Прекрасной певице и Доброму человеку! Огромное спасибо талантливым музыкантам - это такой Ансамбль, её друзьям!
wilson bard
RIP cesaria , i really enjoyed listening to your songs
Emmet Ray
Queen of Music
Giuseppe G Dolce
canzone meravigliosa
Maxim Utkin
самый талантливый, а самое главное, искренний исполнитель нашего времени
Kiskeya Productions
We miss you.
Fridrich Koganoff
👍🖐️
Eduardo Camilo
cantiga di bedjo. ta fazem lembra djabraba
Xristos Kostakis
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!