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.
Um Pincelada
Cesária Évora Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Quel crianca qu'tita tchora
Quel nuvem qu'tita passa
'E sodade...
'E tristeza...
'E lembranca di nha infancia
'E fantasia daquel mesa
Pa consola nha fraqueza (Bis)
Esa flor que se marchita
Ese niño que esta llorando
Esa nube que va pasando
Es nostalgia, es tristeza
Es el recuerdo de mi infancia
La fantasía de aquella mesa
Llena de cosas buena
Pa consolar mi pobresa
'E lembranca di nha infancia
'E fantasia daquel mesa
Recheode de cosa sabe
Pa consola nha fraqueza
Mundo ta muda
Ma nha estoria ta f'ca (Bis)
El mundo cambia
Más mi historia se quedará (ma nha estoria ta f'ca)
El mundo, el mundo
Mi historia se quedará
'E lembranca di nha infancia
'E fantasia daquel mesa
Recheode de cosa sabe
Pa consola nha fraqueza
El mundo cambia
Más mi historia se quedará
Mundo ta muda
Ma nha estoria ta f'ca
El mundo cambia (Mundo ta muda)
Más mi historia se quedará (ma nha estoria ta f'ca) (x3
The song "Um Pincelada" by Cesária Évora is a melancholic and reflective piece on the passing of time and the nostalgia that comes with it. The lyrics speak of the wilted flowers, crying children, and passing clouds as representations of the singer's own feelings of sadness and longing. The references to the singer's childhood reminiscences and fantasies around a table filled with good things serve to console her own weakness.
The final stanza of the song suggests that while the world changes, the singer's story will remain the same, preserving her memories and emotions in the face of the passage of time. The repetition of the last line, "Mundo ta muda, ma nha estoria ta f'ca," emphasizes the singer's feeling that the world may change, but her experience and her story will always endure.
Overall, "Um Pincelada" is a moving and poetic reflection on the human experience of loss, nostalgia, and the power of memory to sustain us.
Line by Line Meaning
Quel flor qu'tita murcha
That flower wilting
Quel crianca qu'tita tchora
That child crying
Quel nuvem qu'tita passa
That cloud passing by
'E sodade...
It's nostalgia...
'E tristeza...
It's sadness...
'E lembranca di nha infancia
It's the memory of my childhood
'E fantasia daquel mesa
It's the fantasy about that table
Recheode de cosa sabe
Full of good things
Pa consola nha fraqueza
To console my weakness
Esa flor que se marchita
That flower withering
Ese niño que esta llorando
That child crying
Esa nube que va pasando
That cloud passing by
Es nostalgia, es tristeza
It's nostalgia, it's sadness
Es el recuerdo de mi infancia
It's the memory of my childhood
La fantasía de aquella mesa
The fantasy about that table
Llena de cosas buena
Full of good things
Pa consolar mi pobresa
To console my poverty
Mundo ta muda
The world changes
Ma nha estoria ta f'ca
But my story remains
El mundo cambia
The world changes
Más mi historia se quedará
But my story will remain
El mundo, el mundo
The world, the world
Mi historia se quedará
My story will remain
Mundo ta muda
The world changes
Ma nha estoria ta f'ca
But my story remains
El mundo cambia (Mundo ta muda)
The world changes
Más mi historia se quedará (ma nha estoria ta f'ca) (x3)
But my story will remain
Contributed by Nolan V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@Fireflyer94
This flower that is dying,
This child that is crying,
This cloud that is passing,
It's nostalgia, it's sadness,
It's the remembrance of my childhood,
It's the lie of this table,
Full of good things,
To consolate my hunger (x2)
The world is changing,
My story will remain,
The world is changing,
My story will remain !
(Roughly, some of it isn't quite translatable)
@luizricardomachado3808
Um lindo arranjo de bolero com samba, mais samba que bolero!
@mvmmartins8774
Cesárea, amor infinito.
@camilled5781
Eu amo essa música.
@diva1929
En París estoy, bailando en el balcón de mi de mi hotel. En el horizonte la luna alumina la noche. Mi copa de champagne 🍾 en mi mano, gozando de esta vida. Salud 🥂
@joceli1964
MUSICA LINDA .. CESARIA EVORA MUITO ESPECIAL..
@eduardosanchez7817
Exquisita paz!!
Me gusta.
@lasseoable
Love it! Me encanta!
@horiavintila6371
A queen of fado !
An everlasting thought and remembrance!
Rip!
@blimunda21
She didn't sung fado, my friend ... she sung folk music of Cabo Verde, her home town :))
@horiavintila6371
Anabela Rijo Thanks so much ! She is however one of the greatest artists !