By Foto: Silvio Tanaka – flickr: Cesária Évora, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17710765
1941-2011 • Cape Verdean Popular Singer
Fast Facts
- She was known as the “Barefoot Diva” as she always performed without shoes.
- Cesária grew up in poverty and was raised in an orphanage.
- She recorded her first record at the age of 47 and became world-wide famous at the age of 50.
- Cesária Évora’s music was in a style called morna which is sung in taverns on the Cape Verde islands.
- Morna ballads are in minor keys and their main themes are love, loss, poverty and immigration.
- Morna ballads combine musical elements from West Africa, Portugal, Brazil and Great Britain.
- Cesária Évora loved her country’s rich musical heritage and, thanks to her international fame, she brought it to the world’s attention.
Musician of the Month Project 