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.
Sorte
Cesária Évora Lyrics
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El tchega na mim
El rodeá na bêra d'muto caboverdeano
Moda borboleta
El sentá na mim
Li el otchá mel el otchá fel
Qu'm tava ta guardá'l
El otcha-me pronto pá el
'M tava ta esperó-be
Já bô tchega, dali bô ca tá bai
Deus qu'mandó-be
Sabê o qu'el fazê
Mim'm recebê-be di broce aberte
P'm reparti-bo co nha povo
Graças á bô mundo inter
Já consagra-me
Fama di nha terra
'M tá fazê graças à bô
Mensagem di nôs poeta
'M tá leva' p'ess mundo fora
'M canta sodade pa quel qui bai
'M canta regresse pa quel qui bem
Sorte pa mim, sorte pa nha terra
Sorte pa tudo quem ta uvi-me
Sorte pa mim
Sorte pa nha terra
Sorte pa tudo quem ta uvi-me
The lyrics of Cesaria Evora's song "Sorte" (which means 'luck' in Cape Verdean Creole) tell the story of a man who arrives after 35 years and sits next to the singer, "like a butterfly." He brings honey and bitterness, and tells her that he was waiting for her, as luck brought him to her. He says that God sent him to see what he could do, and the singer receives him with open arms to share him with her people. She thanks him for being a part of her world, as his presence has given her fame and made the message of their poets heard all over the world. She sings about longing for those who have left and welcoming those who have returned, and wishes luck to herself, her land, and to all those listening to her.
Line by Line Meaning
Trinta e cinco óne despôs
35 years later
El tchega na mim
He arrives to me
El rodeá na bêra d'muto caboverdeano
He walks around me like a Cape Verdean butterfly
Moda borboleta
Like a butterfly
El sentá na mim
He sits next to me
Li el otchá mel el otchá fel
He tells me the good and the bad
Qu'm tava ta guardá'l
What I was keeping inside
El otcha-me pronto pá el
He asks me quickly for it
Sorte di nha vida
Luck in my life
'M tava ta esperó-be
I was waiting for you
Já bô tchega, dali bô ca tá bai
Now that you're here, don't go away
Deus qu'mandó-be
God sent you
Sabê o qu'el fazê
To know what to do
Mim'm recebê-be di broce aberte
I receive you with open arms
P'm reparti-bo co nha povo
To share you with my people
Graças á bô mundo inter
Thanks to you, my international world
Já consagra-me
It already consecrates me
Fama di nha terra
Fame of my land
'M tá fazê graças à bô
I'm doing it thanks to you
Mensagem di nôs poeta
Our poet's message
'M tá leva' p'ess mundo fora
I'm taking it to the world
'M canta sodade pa quel qui bai
I sing of longing for those who leave
'M canta regresse pa quel qui bem
I sing of return for those who come back
Sorte pa mim, sorte pa nha terra, Sorte pa tudo quem ta uvi-me
Luck for me, luck for my land, luck for everyone who listens to me
Sorte pa mim
Luck for me
Sorte pa nha terra
Luck for my land
Sorte pa tudo quem ta uvi-me
Luck for everyone who listens to me
Contributed by Makayla R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.