African Roots and Rhythms: Cesária Évora (Cape Verde)
By far Cape Verde’s most famous singer, Cesária Évora was and is still a legend. She is known as the “Queen of Morna,” a music and dance genre from Cape Verde, and also as “The Barefoot Diva” as this is how she preferred to perform.
Her early life was marked by tragedy. Her father died when she was seven, and she was placed in an orphanage three years later as her mother struggled to provide for six children. While in her teens, a friend persuaded her to sing at a tavern for sailors to make a little money. In her twenties, she began to sing on cruise ships docked in her home town as well as on the local radio stations. It wasn’t until she was in her forties that she was invited to perform in Portugal, where she was discovered by a producer who invited her to Paris to record.
Her recording brought her international recognition throughout the late 1980’s and up into the early 2000’s. Her 1995 album, Cesária, was nominated for a Grammy. She won the KORA All African Music Awards in three categories in 1997. In 2003, she won a Grammy World Music Award for her album Voz d’Amor. She won another KORA award in 2010.
While on tour in Australia in 2008, she suffered a stroke. A lifelong smoker, her health suffered and she recorded her final album in 2009. In 2010, after performing a series of concerts in Lisbon, she had a heart attack and underwent surgery in Paris. She had been under artificial respiration, but was discharged to be treated at a private clinic a short time later. Citing poor health, she announced she would be retiring in late September of 2011. She died in December of 2011 at the age of 70 due to respiratory failure and high blood pressure.
She has been honored in many different ways. She was awarded the Grand Cross of The Order of Prince Henry in Portugal in 1999. She was a UN World Food Programme Ambassador in 2003. She was made a knightess of the French Legion of Honor in 2009. Her likeness has appeared on Cape Verdean stamps and banknotes. In 2019, she was honored with a Google Doodle in Canada as well as several European, African and Asian nations. A street in Paris’ 19tharrondissement is named after her (as are streets in other European countries and in Cape Verde). Finally, there is a butterfly (Chilades evorae) and a species of sea slug (Aegires evorae) are named after her.
One of my very favorite songs of hers.
This song features Ismaël Lô.
The title of this song means “love of the world.”
This song is from the same release.
