Cesária Évora

Who is Cesária Évora?

Cesária Évora was born in Mindelo, on the island of São Vicente, and grew up singing morna, the melancholic musical genre often compared to Portuguese fado, in the bars and cafés of her home port town. For decades she performed locally with little recognition beyond Cape Verde, supporting her family through hard years before being invited to record in Paris in the late 1980s, a turning point that launched an international career in her late forties. Known worldwide as the "Barefoot Diva" for her habit of performing without shoes, a gesture of solidarity with the poor women and children of Cape Verde who could not afford them, she became the most celebrated ambassador of Cape Verdean music. Her rich, unhurried voice carried themes of sodade, the island longing and homesickness at the heart of morna, to global audiences, and her album Voz d'Amor earned her a Grammy Award in 2004. Her success opened international doors for a new generation of Cape Verdean musicians, and she remains the country's best-known cultural figure abroad. She died in Mindelo in 2011.

Sources: The Conversation, "Cape Verde's World Cup success reflects a nation that has repeatedly defied the odds" (background on Évora's legacy) · Al Jazeera, "The story of morna: Cape Verde's music of displacement and return" · salcaboverde.com, "The Most Famous Cape Verdean People by Field"