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.
Saudade
Cesária Évora Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Quem mostra' bo
Ess caminho longe?
Quem mostra' bo
Ess caminho longe?
Ess caminho
Pa São Tomé
Sodade sodade
Sodade
Dess nha terra Sao Nicolau
Si bô 'screvê' me
'M ta 'screvê be
Si bô 'squecê me
'M ta 'squecê be
Até dia
Qui bô voltà
Sodade sodade
Sodade
Dess nha terra Sao Nicolau
The lyrics to Cesária Évora's song "Saudade" are in Cape Verdean Creole, a language spoken in Cape Verde, a small island country off the coast of West Africa. The song is about longing for one's homeland and asking who will show the way back to São Nicolau, the island where the singer was born. The repeated refrain, "Sodade," is a word in Cape Verdean Creole that means a deep feeling of nostalgia and missing someone or something.
The singer asks if anyone can show her the way back to São Tomé, which is a nearby island, but also possibly symbolic of a place of comfort or safety. The lyrics express a deep yearning for home and for someone to write and remember the singer until they are reunited. The song is a beautiful and emotional expression of the pain of separation and longing for one's roots.
Line by Line Meaning
Quem mostra' bo
Who will show you
Ess caminho longe?
That long path?
Quem mostra' bo
Who will show you
Ess caminho longe?
That long path?
Ess caminho
The path
Pa São Tomé
To Sao Tome
Sodade sodade
Longing, longing
Sodade
Longing
Dess nha terra Sao Nicolau
For my land Sao Nicolau
Si bô 'screvê' me
If you write to me
'M ta 'screvê be
I will write back to you
Si bô 'squecê me
If you forget about me
'M ta 'squecê be
I will forget about you
Até dia
Until the day
Qui bô voltà
You return
Sodade sodade
Longing, longing
Sodade
Longing
Dess nha terra Sao Nicolau
For my land Sao Nicolau
Writer(s): AMANDIO DOS SANTOS CARDOSO CABRAL, LUIS RAMOS MORAIS
Contributed by Madison P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@mbekunaev7883
Куда ведет
Ess caminho longe?
Эта длинная дорога?
Quem mostra' bo
Куда ведет
Ess caminho longe?
Эта длинная дорога?
Ess caminho
Эта дорога
Pa Sao Tome
В Сан-Томе
Sodade sodade
Грусть, грусть,
Sodade
Грусть
Dess nha terra Sao Nicolau
По родной земле Сан-Николау
Si bo 'screve' me
Если ты напишешь мне,
'M ta 'screve
Я тебе отвечу,
Si bo 'squece me
Если позабудешь,
'M ta 'squece
Позабуду и я,
Ate dia
Однажды
Qui bo volta
Ты, может, вернешься
Sodade sodade
Грусть, грусть,
Sodade
Грусть
Dess nha terra Sao Nicolau
По родной земле Сан-Николау
*Текст оригинала на кабовердийском креольском — диалекте португальского языка
Источник: https://www.amalgama-lab.com/songs/c/cesaria_evora/sodade.html
© Лингво-лаборатория «Амальгама»: www.amalgama-lab.com/.
@HannoverXavi
Viva Cesária Evora, Viva Cabo Verde 🇨🇻 Um abraço do Brasil! 🇧🇷
@MarcosPetrin
Só agora que conheci as músicas maravilhosas dessa mulher . Perfeitas
@alexrossimartin3538
@@MarcosPetrin
Nunca é tarde. NUNC/\.
Siga para sempre na emoção dessa voz imortal que é CES/\RI/\ ÉVOR/\.
@taniadelacombe4476
Ela fala de SÃO TOMÉ & PRINCIPE e não CABO VERDE , lindo lindo igualmente...
@taniadelacombe4476
Erro meu, ...sim ,ela fala sobre CABO VERDE, dos migrantes e escravos que partiam de CABO VERDE , longa travessia, para trabalhar em SÃO TOMÉ, ...muitos pra jamais voltar...😢😢
@jonathansitali1121
Simply magical! This song goes straight to my heart….even though I have no clue what she is saying….. 2024 and still listening
@malgorzatalituev6502
some people on this earth are just gifts from heaven to the rest of us ...she is one of them...
@MaximVani
dokladnie
@Omouja
Escutando essa obra de arte em 2022 alguém mais?
@michelmarie-helenehabasque7554
oui, moi!