|
|
 |
Her Musical Inspiration Comes in Waves
|
| Click Here to go back. |
Sunday Sun-Times, Her Musical Inspiration Comes in Waves >>
-by Laura Emerick
For Cesaria Evora, the barefoot diva of morna, all life springs from the sea. Her homeland, the archipelago of Cape Verde, which lies 300 miles off the northwest African coast, overlooks the vast Atlantic.
The title of her latest disc, "Rogamar" (2006) means "praise the sea." It regards the ocean in the metaphorical as well as spiritual sense. Water, water is everywhere on "Rogamar", which features mornas (melancholy ballads) and coladeiras (uptempo dances) by Evora's longtime favorite composers Teofilo Chantre and Manuel de Novas, among others. It explores the sea as lover ("Amor e Mar"), confidant ("Mar Nha Confidente") and as lifeforce ("Vaga Lenta"/"Slow Wave").
"The sea is so important to Cape Verde," said Evora last week, in between dates of her tour, which stops tonight at Ravinia. "It feeds us, and in Cape Verde, a dry, poor land, food is a great problem. From the sea, which surrounds us, we get our musical inspiration."
For the 65-year-old Evora, it also inspires fear, because she never learned to swim. "When I was a child and would go to the beach, I was so afraid of the waves, I could not bear it," she said. "To this day, I never go to the beach or in the water."
Fame came late in life, so she has no plans to retire ("maybe one day I will decide to stop, but not yet"). Or move away from her homeland, to which her ardent fans have made pilgrimages (Jimmy Buffett turned up on her doorstep last fall).
"I like my country and I never imagined living abroad. If there was a country where maybe I could live, it would be France. I met succeses first in France, and from there it goes all over world, so I say France is my second land. And the first of course is Cape Verde and the sea." 06/17/07
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
