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.
Tanha
Cesária Évora Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Dôs strela de ceu na bô rosto
Tanha de meu, nha Deusa, nha sonho
Dixam dormi um sono de amor
Nh'amor pa bô ô Tanha
Nem qui ondas de mar
Bêja areia
Nh'amor pa bô ô Tanha
E amor de mas
Cretcheu de mar pa areia
De cada vez que m'lembra na bô
De céu caiba um strela
De tanto pensa na bô, ô Tanha
Céu ja ca tinha mas strela
The first verse of Cesária Évora's song Tanha references the physical appearance of the person she is singing to. She describes their eyes as being like ripe grapes and having stars from the sky on their face. These physical details are important to her as she sings this song to express her love and admiration for this person. She refers to them as "Tanha de meu," which translates to "my desire," and "nha Deusa, nha sonho," meaning "my goddess, my dream." She wants to be able to sleep a peaceful love-filled sleep because of this person.
The chorus of the song expands on Évora's love for this person. She compares her love to the waves of the sea, kissing the sand and the beach. She expresses that her love for them is so strong that it is like the love of the sea for the sand. She sings that just thinking of this person makes the sky have one less star, as if her thoughts of them have taken a piece of the sky away.
Line by Line Meaning
Esse odjos de uva maduro
Your eyes are like ripe grapes
Dôs strela de ceu na bô rosto
Two stars from the sky on your face
Tanha de meu, nha Deusa, nha sonho
You are my loneliness, my goddess, my dream
Dixam dormi um sono de amor
You let me sleep a love-filled sleep
Nh'amor pa bô ô Tanha
My love for you, oh Tanha
Nem qui ondas de mar
Is as strong as the waves of the sea
Bêja areia
Kissing the sand
Bêja praia
Kissing the beach
E amor de mas
And it's too much love
Cretcheu de mar pa areia
Love that goes from the sea to the sand
De cada vez que m'lembra na bô
Every time I remember you
De céu caiba um strela
A star falls from the sky
De tanto pensa na bô, ô Tanha
From thinking too much about you, oh Tanha
Céu ja ca tinha mais strela
The sky doesn't have any more stars
Contributed by Camilla W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Sergei Zuev
Прекрасная музыка.....
Regina Kato
Yes, any song sung by Cesaria becomes a beautiful song! She’s a unique singer! ❤
Lima Deolinda
Très jolie chanson 👏
Regina Kato
comme elle meme❤belle Cesaria ❤