-by Achy Obejas,
Special to the Tribune

Cesaria Evora, probably Cape Verde’s greatest musical export, hails from Mindelo, on the island of Sao Vicente. It's the same place that birthed Bana and Bau, Vasco Martins and Gabriela  Mendes—singers all. What Evora performs, always barefoot and nearly always in native Creole, is the morna—a local style as mournful as Portuguese fado or Brazilian modinha with a sensibility often compared to the blues.

"We have a lot of singers, young singers, who are Cape Verdean but they don't sing Cape Verdean music like I do," says Evora through a translator while taking a break from work in Paris. "What they do is sing other styles of music in our language [Creole]. Of course, if they want to do that, I accept it. Everybody should sing what they like."

Evora will perform with Brazilian pop star Seu Jorge Sunday at Ravinia in Highland Park, followed on Thursday by her countryman, Tcheka, who will headline at FitzGerald's. It's a rare chance for music fans to compare musical traditions from the archipelago of Cape Verde, just northwest of Africa.

"She is the great mother of Cape Verde," says Tcheka about Evora. He's in a recording studio in Rio de Janeiro and also talking through an interpreter. But our cultures are totally different. The island I come from [Santiago] is considered the most African. The other islands have much more recent immigration and more mixed with Europeans  and European influences."

But that's not all: Tcheka sings in a style called batuque, traditionally associated with women who, while sitting in a circle, tap out rhythms on a bundle of cloth held between their legs. The sounds—which vary according to the thickness and texture of the cloth—provide the base for improvisatory songs about daily life and culture.

Did he ever think twice about taking on a women’s tradition?

Tcheka scoffs. "I'm a modern man." he says. “I’m of a different generation. I thought the rhythm was interesting, so I took it and mixed it with other things." And Evora concurs that for a man to sing batuque now is less of a transgression than it might seem. "Tcheka is not the first singer to sing that kind of song, .. what Tcheka sings is technically a song from Santiago, very typical, traditional music of that island and nowhere else.”

"My music comes from the heart," says Tcheka. "It's not important to understand the words, or its origins. It's about my people, their lives. But people in any country can understand."

Is he her protégé, as has been the buzz in the world music press? “Well, I never said that," Evora says with a chuckle. "They are my friends; I love all of them, the Cape Verde singers. For me, if they are from Cape Verde, I cannot put one person higher than another. All of us from Cape Verde, we all try to bring our culture to the world in our way.”

"Oh, it’s very normal to want to get a blessing from the Great Mother," says Tcheka. "She likes my music and has offered me a few concerts but it is not like that."