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.
Zebra
Cesária Évora Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Passro raro també não
Di rapina bo ca é
Cuzé qui bo é
Qui ta matan nha pensar
Zebra djiam sabé ma bu ca é
Passro raro també não
Cuzé qui bo é
Qui ta matan nha pensar
Mi djan screbé pa céu
Mi djan papiá cu mar
Djan manda recado pa lua
Ma ninguém inda ca flan
Cuzé qui bo é
Mi djan screbé pa céu
Mi djan papiá cu mar
Djan manda recado pa lua
Ma ninguém inda ca flan
Cuzé qui bo é
Si bu corpo tem
Ternura mi 'm ca conchel
Si bu boca tem mel'm ca purbal
Nes dístância qu'm ta vivé
Cuzé qui bo é
Qui ta matan nha pensar
Si bu corpo tem
Ternura mi 'm ca conchel
Si bu boca tem mel'm ca purbal
Nes dístância qu'm ta vivé
Cuzé qui bo é
Qui ta matan nha pensar
Mi djan screbé pa céu
Mi djan papiá cu mar
Djan manda recado pa lua
Ma ninguém inda ca flan
Cuzé qui bo é
Mi djan screbé pa céu
Mi djan papiá cu mar
Djan manda recado pa lua
Ma ninguém inda ca flan
Cuzé qui bo é
...
Mi djan screbé pa céu
Mi djan papiá cu mar
Djan manda recado pa lua
Ma ninguém inda ca flan
Cuzé qui bo é
Mi djan screbé pa céu
Mi djan papiá cu mar
Djan manda recado pa lua
Ma ninguém inda ca flan
Cuzé qui bo é
The song Zebra by Cesaria Evora is in Cape Verdean Creole and is a melancholic ballad about unrequited love. The lyrics convey a sense of longing and pain felt by the singer who is hopelessly in love with someone who does not reciprocate those feelings. The singer addresses the object of their affection as a zebra, an elusive and mysterious creature, and compares themselves to a bird who communicates with the sea and the moon. The repeated refrain, "cuzé qui bo é qui ta matan nha pensar" translates to "what you are is killing me inside" and serves as a reminder of the singer's agony caused by unrequited love.
The song is a testament to Cesaria Evora's ability to capture raw emotions and convey them through her soulful voice. The lyrics are poetic and the melody is hauntingly beautiful, creating a mood that resonates with listeners even if they do not understand the language. The song is a reflection of the pain caused by unrequited love, a feeling that is universal and timeless.
Line by Line Meaning
Zebra djiam sabé ma bu ca é
Zebra, I know you're not mine
Passro raro també não
Rare, like a bird that doesn't exist
Di rapina bo ca é
You can't be stolen
Cuzé qui bo é
What are you?
Qui ta matan nha pensar
That's killing me to think about it
Mi djan screbé pa céu
I'm writing to the sky
Mi djan papiá cu mar
I'm talking to the sea
Djan manda recado pa lua
Sending messages to the moon
Ma ninguém inda ca flan
But no one is talking back to me
Cuzé qui bo é
What are you?
Si bu corpo tem
If your body has
Ternura mi 'm ca conchel
Tenderness, I haven't felt it
Si bu boca tem mel'm ca purbal
If your mouth has honey, I haven't tasted it
Nes dístância qu'm ta vivé
In the distance that I live in
Cuzé qui bo é
What are you?
Qui ta matan nha pensar
That's killing me to think about it
Contributed by Matthew E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.