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.
Verde Cabo Di Nhas Odjos
Cesária Évora Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Verde de verde esperança
Mas verde que tristeza
Desse verde mar di lágrimas
Verde Cabo di nhas odjos
Verde de verde di maçã
Mas verde que midjo verde
Verde vida, verde sonho
Cabo verde qui ta prendê-me
M ta voltá pa bô terra verde
E verde ta ser nha alma
M ta voltá pa bô terra verde
E verde ta ser nha alma
...
Verde Cabo di nhas odjos
Cabo verde di nha sangue
Mindelo di nhas amor
São Vicente ta guardó-be
Verde Cabo di nhas odjos
Mindelo di nhas maior
'M qu'rê morrê na bô verde
E vivê na nhas canção
'M qu'rê morrê na bô verde
E vivê na nhas canção
Verde vida, verde sonho
Cabo verde qui ta prendê-me
M ta voltá pa bô terra verde
E verde ta ser nha alma
M ta voltá pa bô terra verde
E verde ta ser nha alma
M ta voltá pa bô terra verde
E verde ta ser nha alma
The lyrics of Cesária Évora's song Verde Cabo di nhas Odjos express a deep love for the poet's beloved Cape Verde, an archipelago off the north-western coast of Africa. The song describes the beauty and vibrancy of the island in poetic language that speaks to the singer's longing to return to her homeland. The repeated use of the word "verde" (green) throughout the song evokes the lush vegetation of Cape Verde, as well as the singer's profound connection to her homeland.
The opening lines of the song, "Verde Cabo di nhas odjos / Verde de verde esperança" (Green Cape of my eyes / Green of green hope), suggest that the poet sees Cape Verde as a place of promise and possibility. However, the following lines, "Mas verde que tristeza / Desse verde mar di lágrimas" (But green as sadness / Of this green sea of tears), reveal a more complex relationship to the homeland. The beauty of Cape Verde is intertwined with the sorrow and pain that comes from being separated from it.
The final lines of the song, "'M ta voltá pa bô terra verde / E verde ta ser nha alma" (I will return to your green land / And green will be my soul), express the singer's longing to be reunited with her homeland, to find spiritual sustenance in its natural beauty and cultural richness. The song celebrates the transformative power of a connection to place, and the deep emotions that can be evoked by the love for one's homeland.
Line by Line Meaning
Verde Cabo di nhas odjos
Green Cape of my eyes
Verde de verde esperança
Green with green hope
Mas verde que tristeza
But greener than sadness
Desse verde mar di lágrimas
Of this green sea of tears
Verde de verde di maçã
Green with green apple
Mas verde que midjo verde
But greener than green envy
Verde de verde manhã
Green with green morning
Verde vida, verde sonho
Green life, green dream
Cabo verde qui ta prendê-me
Cape Verde that holds me
‘M ta voltá pa bô terra verde
I'll return to your green land
E verde ta ser nha alma
And green will be my soul
Cabo verde di nha sangue
Cape Verde of my blood
Mindelo di nhas amor
Mindelo of my love
São Vicente ta guardó-be
São Vicente will keep me
Mindelo di nhas maior
Mindelo of my biggest
‘M qu'rê morrê na bô verde
I want to die in your green land
E vivê na nhas canção
And live in my song
Contributed by Caroline R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jose A. Vargas D.
Adoro esta canción... ❤
Indico Mocambique
Adoro esta música..infelizmente nunca tive oportunidade de ver em palco ❤❤❤❤❤
MARIA DO SOCORRO BARBOSA DA SILVA MAMED
Inesquecível ❤️❤️❤️
Severino Bernardo Santos
Eternamente Diva....
Emmet Ray
Queen.
Cruising in Malindi
💕
CLEVELAND AUGUSTUS DODGE
CESARIA EVORA - VERDE CABO DI NHAS ODJOS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdjuCDrI-KU
Published on 11 Jun 2013
Music
"Verde cabo di nhas odjos" by Cesaria Evora (Google Play • iTunes)
Artist
Cesária Évora
Category
Music
Licence
Standard YouTube Licence
Who may call "latinos" criollos," mestizos, mulatos or even divide in languages, several of them irreconcileable sections of races and conditions?
I FEEL THIS MUSIC SO MINE...!
AT THE END I GUESS THAT'S A REASON THAT DESTROYED BERLIN WALL
ANDT THAT IS WHAT WE MAY NEED. JUST A PERSPECTIVE OF "OTREDAD"
FESTIVAL MUSICAL DE MAYO
GDL, JAL MEX.
MAY 8 A 31.