Cape Verde star Cesaria Evora walked off with three Kora awards this year. Glynis OHara caught up with her at the KabaReunion festival
Shes 56, shes large, shes a grandmother, she laughs easily and her face bears the lines of a life lived to the full. If you passed her in the street, youd never know she was a star, but draped as she is in gold chains and bangles, youd very likely think she was a gypsy soul.
And youd be right, becuase her voice has turned her into a full-time traveller. When she opens her mouth to sing, apparently effortlessly, clear, smooth contralto notes waft through the air. Its the kind of clarity that Ella Fitzgerald had, although the style is different and theres far less modulation.
This is not a voice roughened up and hoarsened by liquor and cigarettes, she explains, its a voice preserved by them.
I love drinking and smoking, she said through two interpreters from Portuguese to French to English at the poolside of a five-star Reunion hotel. My training was with alcohol. Now its just cigarettes, I dont drink any more. Its not that I dont want liquor; liquor just doesnt want me any more.
When I was young I didnt drink at all, but with the job of course, its convivial, its a celebration … It was a good way to learn life.
Ive stopped for three years now. Maybe one day Ill go back, why not? When Im on tour I always ask for a bottle of cognac in my dressing room, but I give it to friends now.
Shes backed on stage by a strikingly different band one without drums of any sort. Instead, there are three acoustic guitars, one bass, one grand piano, one saxophone player and, near the end, the lead guitarist produced an amplified violin. Needless to say, melody rules.
The style of her music is derived from Portugal, the former colonists of Cape Verde, and is a lot like fado, the mournful folk songs from the mother country. But the language is Creole, although the subject is still tenderness and lost love.
Is it all misery? The way of singing seems sad, she replies, but its not sad for the singer, its profound. It consumes a lot of energy but its not difficult because its in the blood for Cape Verde people. Its a lot like the blues in America, where those singers used to put everything into their music.
Is she happy? Yes, Im very happy because Ive made a comeback. I quit singing for 10 years because I was very tired, Id had enough. But then some women from Portugal invited me to sing and the second time I went over for them, in 1987, I met Jos da Silva, a producer, and recorded Mis Perfunado with him. I was 52 and it was then that my career began again.
At first, she said, she sang largely for expatriate communities in Europe, but it gradually changed. By the time she recorded her third album with Da Silva, Mar Azul, she was selling to everyone else as well.
Shes now firmly on the international circuit, spending only three months of the year at home in Cape Verde. Her family doesnt tour with her because they dont like leaving home. One of my daughters came with me twice, but she didnt like it.
Lonely though it may be, she has no thoughts of retiring. Ive still got Cuba, Argentina, South Africa and Mexico to go to! Ill think about retiring when its a good time, not now though, Im too busy.
Her travels have taken her through Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and Mozambique, to name a few, playing in venues of up to 3 000 seats for solo concerts, much bigger for festivals. The US is a notoriously difficult market to get into, but she says shes toured there three times, once in 30-date tour, to full houses.
She was delighted, she said, to have won the Koras, also to have won them in South Africa, because she wanted to sing there and this would help introduce her singing to a wider audience.
Cape Verdes people were very happy, as was the government, because of her success. Im like an ambassador for the country. Ive got a diplomatic passport and a medallion of honour.
Theyve also offered me a house for when I settle down, but Im busy building my own.
Shes never had any other career besides music, but shes certainly had work housework. I was never very good. I come from a big family and when I was young my mother went out to work and I had to cook and clean for the family. But I wasnt good!
But it is a good thing for music.