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Concert Review
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Concert Review >>
-by Elaine Schmidt
If we're all going to live together in peace on this planet, we need to listen to people like singer Cesaria Evora.
Known as the "barefoot diva", Evora took the stage of the Pabst Theater on Saturday evening for a 90-minute set of her trademark mix of musical styles and languages, and opened a window onto life in a distant corner of the world.
Evora, now in her late 60s, is known as the musical ambassador of Cape Verde, the Macronesian island nation off the west coast of Africa. She's also the world's best-known performer of morna, the rich Cape Verdean stew of African, Portuguese, Cuban, and Brazilian musical influences.
Her music is built of effervescent, infectious rhythms that demand a physical response of the listener. Early in the evening that response consisted of foot tapping, head bobbing and a general, audience-wide swaying. By the end of the evening, 800 or so listeners were standing, clapping and dancing in the aisles.
Backed by violin, sax, various guitars, bass, piano and percussion, Evora sings with a low, earthy sound and a musical delivery that transcends the barrier of language. In her rousing deliveries of songs such as "Africa Nossa" and her buttery rendition of "Besame Mucho", love, sorrow, struggle, and celebration need no lyrics.
There is no pretense in Evora's act. Barefoot, in tribute to the disadvantaged women and children of her country, she gives a stand-and-deliver performance. She disappears into her music, often singing without facial expression or extraneous movement. Everything she needs to express is in her sound.
Even the break she took during the seet was without pretense. She took a seat on stage, sipped from a glass, smoked a cigarette, and tapped her foot as her eight-piece band played a number. When she wanted to invite the audience to dance, a shimmy and a grin did the trick.
The Cape Verdean singer Tcheka (Manuel Lopez Andrade) opened for Evora, winning over the audience immediately with his signature take on batuque, a rhythmic style from his native Santiago island.
Tcheka and his band of guitars and percussion played a set of rhythmically compelling, gentle-spirited music. Tcheka's soft-edged, breathy voice and occasional vocal trills and effects, along with his charming onstage demeanor, were a winning combination.
06/18/07
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