Feel Good Friday: Cesaria Evora

For the last several years, my three favorite older musicians were R.L. Burnside, Ibrahim Ferrer, and Cesaria Evora. Interestingly, they all shared the fact that as talented as they are, they never enjoyed any recognition or acclaim until later in life, which is a great lesson to us all about never giving up but more importantly find something you love and doing it because you love it, not as an attempt to get rich or famous {yeah I'm talking to you 80% of commercial pop artists today}.

Sadly only Cesaria is still with us today. I was fortunate enough to see Ibrahim Ferrer in concert in Atlanta in 2003, and what an amazing experience to see a 75 year old man singing and dancing his ass off with the joy of a playful child{or course, sitting in the 2nd row in the center sure helped}. Sadly, I never did get to see R.L. in concert before he passed away in 2005. That leaves Cesaria, her mesmerizing voice and wonderful band, all of which I have long hoped to see in concert one day. Well that day is going to be this Sunday evening, when I cruise down to Mountain Winery on Saratoga to see her in concert at an incredible outdoor venue that sits in the middle of a winery on top of a mountain overlooking San Jose. I'm very excited to see the "barefoot diva" perform in person and without shoes, and as such Feel Good Friday today is all about Cesaria.

She is in her 7th decade and hails from the Cape Verde Islands; She sings in Portugese, Spanish, and French, and her voice is flat out mesmerizing, which in and of itself is incredible considering that she smokes like a chimney and drinks whiskey. Her self titled album Cesaria {1995} as well as Cafe Atlantico {1997} were nominated for the Grammy for best World Music album, which she finally won in 2004 for Voz d'Amor.

I love listening to her music when I am driving along or near the ocean, for some reason it makes me think that I am in the Mediterranean, driving the winding roads along the Amalfi coast in Italy or getting ready for an afternoon of wine, feta, and olives at a roadside cafe in Greece overlooking the sea.

So here's four Cesaria tunes to get you in the a properly tranquilo for the weekend. Enjoy.

Sangue Berona


Petit Pays


Amor di Mundo


Sodade

Happy weekend or Feliz fin de semana, whatever your persuasion. And apologies for the back to back international versions- I promise next week will be in English.