CESARIA EVORA
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Concert |
Cesaria Evora, “Cize” for her friends, was born on August 27th, 1941 in Mindelo,
Cape Verde. She is known as the “barefoot diva” because of her propensity to
appear on stage in her bare feet in support of the disadvantaged women and
children of her country.
Long known as the queen of the “morna” (“morna” is like the blues because it is
a way to express life's suffering in music) a soulful genre sung in Creole-Portuguese,
she mixes her sentimental folk tunes filled with longing and sadness with the
acoustic sounds of guitar, cavaquinho, violin, accordian, and clarinet. Evora's
Cape Verdean blues often speak of the country's long and bitter history of
isolation and slave trade, as well as emigration: almost two-thirds of the
million Cape Verdeans alive live abroad. Evora's voice, a finely-tuned,
melancholy instrument with a touch of hoarseness, highlights her emotional
phrasing by accenting a word or phrase. Even audiences who do not understand her
language are held spell-bound by the emotions evident in her performances.
Now, she is 65 and is gladdened by her current worldwide popularity.
10 July
2006, Monday 21.00 Salamis Antique Theatre