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.
Tchintchiroti Na Figueira
Cesária Évora Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Bô ta papiá di mas
Si ma tchintchirote na figuera
Ess bô má flado
Tudo alguem ja ta conchêl
Qu' ess boca grande ragonhode
Bô ta papiá mas quì ninguem
Ma flado flá
Na nha porta'm ca qu're odjá-bô
Nem mantenha ca bô fla-me
Gossi qui bô quei na bô asnera
Guentà na bô rabo
Pa mô mim 'm tem medo
Di tribunal
TCHINTCHIROTE
(pequeno pássaro
Das Ilhas de Cabo Verde)
Ouve, minha menina
Como tu não há igual Falas demais
Como o tchitchirote na figueira
A tua fama
Já todo o mundo a conhece
Com essa boca gran de
Tu falas mais que ninguém
Mas p'ra mexericos
A minha boca não dá
Não te quero à minha porta
Nem para me saudar
Agora que caiste em asneira
Tens de aguentar sozinha
Ouanto a mim, tenho medo
Do tribunal
The song "Tchintchiroti Na Figueira" by Cesária Évora is a Cape Verdean morna, which is a mournful ballad. The lyrics of the song are about someone who talks too much and spreads gossip like a tchintchirote, a small bird found in Cape Verde. The song's narrator is warning this person to stay away because they don't want to be associated with their negative talk. The line "ma flado fla, mi nha boca ca está là" meaning "speak if you will, but my mouth won't say anything," shows the singer's reluctance to engage in the gossip.
The song also touches on the idea of consequences for one's actions, as the singer warns the person who talks too much that they must face the repercussions of their actions alone. They express fear of getting involved and being brought to trial for something they didn't do. Overall, the song serves as a warning about the dangerous consequences of spreading rumors and engaging in negative talk.
Line by Line Meaning
Odjá menina A bô catem comparação
Listen girl, there is no one like you
Bô ta papiá di mas
You talk too much
Si ma tchintchirote na figuera
Like the small bird in the fig tree
Ess bô má flado
Everyone knows about you
Tudo alguem ja ta conchêl
Everyone has heard about you
Qu' ess boca grande ragonhode
Your big mouth keeps running
Bô ta papiá mas quì ninguem
You talk more than anybody else
Ma flado flá
But I can't speak ill of you
Mi nha boca ca está là
I won't let you in my house
Na nha porta'm ca qu're odjá-bô
I don't want to see you at my door
Nem mantenha ca bô fla-me
Don't even bother to greet me
Gossi qui bô quei na bô asnera
Now that you're in trouble
Guentà na bô rabo
You have to deal with it by yourself
Pa mô mim 'm tem medo
As for me, I'm afraid
Di tribunal
Of the court
Contributed by Samuel S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@BenDnsoulfulhouse
Nice..!