{"id":13755,"date":"2017-11-08T15:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T15:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/11\/08\/shocking-omissions-cesaria-evoras-cesaria\/"},"modified":"2017-11-08T15:00:49","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T15:00:49","slug":"shocking-omissions-cesaria-evoras-cesaria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/shocking-omissions-cesaria-evoras-cesaria\/","title":{"rendered":"Shocking Omissions: Ces\u00e1ria \u00c9vora's 'Ces\u00e1ria'"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chaka V. Grier<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Singer Ces\u00e1ria \u00c9vora lifted Cape Verde’s little-known blues, morna<\/em>, beyond the island and into the international world of music.<\/p>\n

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VALERY HACHE\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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VALERY HACHE\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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This essay is one in a series celebrating deserving artists or albums not included on NPR Music’s list of <\/em>150 Greatest Albums Made By Women<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

If there were ever a voice that embodied that of a siren, a voice that could seduce, sadden and soothe with its elegance, it was Ces\u00e1ria \u00c9vora<\/a>‘s. It was the voice that lifted Cape Verde’s little-known blues, morna<\/em>, beyond the island and into the international world of music. In 1995, \u00c9vora’s years of living and singing the blues culminated in Ces\u00e1ria<\/em>, an album that cemented the importance of \u00c9vora, and morna,<\/em> in world music.<\/p>\n

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As with the greatest blues singers of all time, the knowing and sensitivity \u00c9vora brought to morna <\/em>was lived, not sought after. She was born in Mindelo, a port city on the island of S\u00e3o Vicente. Her musician father died when she was a young girl; \u00c9vora’s mother, unable to care for her, placed her in an orphanage soon after. By the age of 16, \u00c9vora was already world-weary: swigging scotch, burning through cigarettes and captivating patrons with songs of loss in tiny Cape Verde taverns.<\/p>\n

She sang in Kriolu, which draws from West African dialects and Portuguese \u2014 the language of Cape Verde’s former colonizer. \u00c9vora had a gift for elevating morna <\/em>ballads, a style of song whose lyrics address poverty, longing, and most deeply, partings: of both the physical and emotional kind. Her melodic voice conjured the beauty and struggle, melancholy and yearning of life in Cape Verde. Performing without shoes, \u00c9vora was often paid with drinks and trivial tips as she performed for the sailors who arrived on the Portuguese cruise ships that docked at Mindelo. Yet her languid vocals and blas\u00e9 glamour were unforgettable. She would eventually be known as the “barefoot diva” and the queen of morna<\/em>, both names capturing the humble majesty she evoked.<\/p>\n

Decades before seasoned artists such as Sharon Jones<\/a> and Charles Bradley<\/a> reached world-wide fame at ages where most musicians had long retired or given up, \u00c9vora was “discovered” at the age of 47 by producer Jos\u00e9 Da Silva while singing in Lisbon. Bana, a Cape Verdean singer (known as the “king of morna<\/em>“)<\/em> who had found success off the island, wanted to expose \u00c9vora, and morna<\/em>, to a larger audience. So he invited \u00c9vora to perform in Portugal. That fateful trip would change her life. But as with much of her career, rightful acclaim would come later: four albums in, to be exact, with 1992’s Miss Perfumado. <\/em>That album made her an international star, and went on to sell 300,000 copies worldwide. <\/p>\n

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But in 1995, \u00c9vora lit the torch brighter with Ces\u00e1ria<\/em>, cementing her place as Cape Verde’s morna <\/em>master. Nominated for a 1996 Grammy for Best World Music Album, Ces\u00e1ria <\/em>sees \u00c9vora’s exquisite vocals paired with the<\/em>opulence of guitars, percussion and violin. For the first time, her music was carried by a celebratory quality, suggesting that even in mournful morna<\/em> some moments call for one to dance and sway in pleasure. <\/p>\n