Cesaria Evora is a legend in the world of music. People remember her as a barefoot singer with a unique emotional and soulful voice. Thanks to her immense talent and hard work, the whole world got to know Cesaria Evora - a native of the Cape Verde Islands.
Biography
Cesaria was born on August 27, 1941 in the city of Mindelo, which is located on the island of Sao Vicente. This is a small island belonging to the Cape Verde archipelago, also called the Cape Verde Islands.
Her father was a musician, and her mother was a simple cook. The family had seven children, the father died early, and all the care of the kids fell on the shoulders of the mother. Little Cesaria was first sent to an orphanage, and when the girl grew up and returned home, she actively helped her mother with the housework.
Cesaria showed an early talent for music, and from the age of 14 she actively performed at the venues of her city. At first, the girl performed African songs, koladera and morne. The singer had a truly mesmerizing timbre of voice and people adored listening to her performance of nostalgic and sincere songs about love, life and hard fate.
At the age of 17, Cesaria, along with her musicians, regularly performed in clubs and earned good money for herself and her family. She won the love of people who nicknamed her "Queen of Morna".
A distinctive feature in the image of the singer was that she always performed barefoot, and wore shoes only in countries with cold climates. Thus, Evora expressed solidarity with poor African women.
Great creative career
Evora has been invited to Lisbon many times to record songs. At first, it was produced by Tito Paris, a fellow countryman of Cesaria. The singer's first solo album was released in 1988.
Thanks to the patronage of Jose de Silva, Cesaria left for France and began to cooperate with "Lusafrica". In 1990 and 1991, two albums of Evora were released - "Distino di Belita" and "Mar Azul".
The release of the fourth album ("Miss Perfumado") was a dizzying success and people started talking about Cesaria all over the world.
Evora became the owner of the Grammy, Victoire de la Musique, as well as the Order of the Legion of Honor, which was presented to her by the Minister of Culture of France, Christie Albanel. In total, Evora recorded 18 albums, toured a lot, came to perform in Russia several times.
Cesaria sang all her songs only in Creole. But thanks to the sincere, soulful manner of performance, they did not need translation. These were compositions about life, love, earthly joys and sorrows.
Personal life
Evora devoted her whole life to creativity, but she never found personal female happiness.
First love with guitarist Eduardo ended in pain and disappointment. Romance with other men did not result in anything serious. However, Cesaria took place as a mother, she raised three children on her own.
Interestingly, as a result of her activities, Evora has earned more than $ 50 million. But she did not "waste" money left and right. She spent most of her money on financial support for education and health care systems in her small, impoverished country.
Grateful people wanted to erect a monument to Cesaria during her lifetime, but she asked the organizers to transfer funds to children in need. Evora lived to be 70 years old and left, leaving behind a bright trace of her unique songs and good deeds.
