Cape Verde, a small archipelago off the coast of Senegal, has permanently altered the global musical landscape, largely due to the late Cesária Évora. Her 1992 breakthrough album, Miss Perfumado, became a massive European hit and cemented her as the best-selling African artist of the 20th century in the US. The album introduced morna, the country’s melancholic Creole ballad tradition, to international audiences, selling hundreds of thousands of copies in Europe. Évora’s rise to fame came late, at age 51, after decades marked by poverty, alcoholism, failed relationships, and professional setbacks. Next month, London’s Barbican will host a tribute concert featuring her protégée Mayra Andrade alongside rising Cape Verdean vocalists. The event honors a stoic icon who famously performed barefoot, leaving a thriving national music scene and a permanent blueprint for cultural preservation.
The Guardian
