The barefoot diva, Cesaria Evora, was born in Mindelo on Sao Vicente Island in August 1941. Losing her father at a young age, Cesaria was surrendered to an orphanage. It was here that she first sang, but it was when she was sixteen that a young Cape Verdean sailor taught her to appreciate the typical Cape Verdean singing styles of Coladeras and Mornas that she truly found her voice.
[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=8kSvZJx7v7Q]
The mornas that Cesaria sings can be roughly equated to the Blues. Usually sung in native Creole and encompassing a feeling of yearning, longing, profound sadness and regret, it is said that the term morna is taken from the English ‘to mourn’. It is more likely however that the term is taken from a Portugese word which means ‘tepid’.
