Hommage à Cesária Evora

When Cesaria Evora left this world last December, Africa lost one of its greatest female singers ever. The Cape Verdian artist left an incredible musical legacy with many unforgettable songs, including tracks like ‘Sodade’ and ‘Carnaval de Sao Vicente‘. Cesaria’s life begin with hardship as her father died when she was just seven years old. Her mother could not care for all six children and because of that Cesaria was brought to an orphanage. Her music career started when she was persuaded by a friend to sing in a sailors’ tavern. At that time she was only 16 years old but it was the start of an incredible career.

At the end of last September popular artist from Benin, Angola, Portugal, Cape Verde and Senegal came together to pay a tribute concert for the ‘Queen of Morna‘ as she was also called. The lineup included following artists: Angélique Kidjo, Mayra Andrade, Bonga, Camané, Ismaël Lo, Teofilo Chantre.

See below the wonderful individual tribute songs by Mayra Andrade and Angelique Kidjo as well as a video of a live concert which Cesaria Evora performed in Paris in 2004.