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.
Sodade
Cesária Évora Lyrics
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Quem mostrava esse caminho longe?
Esse caminho pa São Tomé
Quem mostrava esse caminho longe?
Quem mostrava esse caminho longe?
Esse caminho pa São Tomé
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
Sodade, sodade
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
Quem mostrava esse caminho longe?
Quem mostrava esse caminho longe?
Esse caminho pra São Tomé
Quem mostrava esse caminho longe?
Quem mostrava esse caminho longe?
Esse caminho pra São Tomé
Sodade, sodade
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
Sodade, sodade
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
Se vou escrever muito a escrever
Se vou esquecer muito a esquecer
Até dia que vou voltar
Se vou escrever muito a escrever
Se vou esquecer muito a esquecer
Até dia que vou voltar
Sodade, sodade
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
Sodade sodade
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
Sodade, sodade
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
Sodade, sodade
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
Sodade, sodade
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
Sodade, sodade
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
Sodade, sodade
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
The lyrics of Cesaria Evora's song "Sodade" reflect the longing and nostalgia of someone who is far away from their homeland, specifically from São Nicolau, an island in Cape Verde. The song is made up of a simple melody and repetitive lyrics that capture the essence of the Cape Verdean culture, where music is used to express all aspects of life, including love, heartbreak, and homesickness.
The first two stanzas express the desire to know who can guide the way to São Tomé, which is seen as a metaphor for the unknown path that the singer is taking away from home. The following stanzas repeat the word "sodade," which is used to represent a deep emotional feeling of nostalgia and homesickness.
The final stanza talks about the difficulty of forgetting one's homeland and the hope of one day being able to return. The repetition of "sodade" throughout the entire song reinforces the theme of longing and creates a sense of yearning in the listener.
Line by Line Meaning
Quem mostrava esse caminho longe?
Who showed me the way far away?
Quem mostrava esse caminho pa São Tomé?
Who showed me the way to São Tomé?
Sodade, sodade
Longing, longing
Sodade dessa minha terra, São Nicolau
Longing for my land, São Nicolau
Se vou escrever muito a escrever
If I have to write a lot to write
Se vou esquecer muito a esquecer
If I have to forget a lot to forget
Até dia que vou voltar
Until the day I come back
Lyrics © EDITIONS DE BERTHOLENE, LUSAFRICA SARL, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Sony Music Entertainment France, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Amandio Cabral, Luis Morais
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind