The character arc of Cesaria Evora
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 27 August 1941 in Mindelo, then a Portuguese colony, one of seven children. Between then and her death sit a violinist father who died when she was a child, a mother left to raise them alone as a cook and a maid, an upbringing by her grandmother, an orphanage at ten because the family could not support her, singing in bars from sixteen, years of local success that did not pay enough to keep her children, a retirement, a womens music anthology in Portugal in 1985 that brought her back, a debut album in 1988, worldwide success from 1992, and a Grammy in 2004. The line below draws the whole story.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who was Cesaria Evora?
She quit because it did not pay. Then the world found her.
She was born in Mindelo, one of seven children. Her father Justino was a violinist and he died while she was still a child. Her mother Joana was a cook and a maid and was left to raise the children alone. The poverty of the family, and of the whole colony, meant she got very little formal education. She was raised by her grandmother, and by ten she had been moved to an orphanage because the family could not support her.
She sang as a child, and at sixteen, encouraged by a guitarist she was seeing, she began performing morna and coladeira in the bars of Mindelo. She had some success in Cabo Verde over the following years. It was not enough. She retired from singing because it did not provide enough money to care for her children, which is the least romantic reason any musician ever stops, and the most common.
That retirement lasted a long time. She came back in 1985, when she contributed to a womens music anthology album in Portugal. There she met the producer Jose da Silva, who signed her to his label. She released her debut album, La Diva Aux Pieds Nus, in 1988, at forty seven.
Then it happened very fast. Her fourth and fifth albums, Miss Perfumado in 1992 and Cesaria in 1995, made her a worldwide success. She sang morna in Cape Verdean Creole, about love, homesickness, nostalgia and the history of her own people, to audiences who mostly did not speak the language. She performed barefoot, which is where the name Barefoot Diva came from, and she smoked and drank on stage during the intermissions, which she never made any secret of.
She won a Grammy Award in 2004, at sixty three. Her music influenced musicians across the Cape Verdean diaspora and beyond it, Madonna among them. She developed health problems in the late 2000s and died of respiratory failure and hypertension in 2011, at seventy.
The moments
Cesaria Evora's timeline.
The 1940s
One of seven, in Mindelo
Everyday. Mindelo, and six brothers and sisters.
Her father dies
Setback, and it changed everything. A violinist father, gone, and a mother with seven children.
Very little schooling
Setback, and it changed her direction. The colony was poor and so was the family.
The 1950s
An orphanage at ten
Setback, and it changed everything. Ten years old, and her family could not keep her.
Singing in the bars
Milestone, and it changed everything. Sixteen, in the bars of Mindelo.
The 1960s
Known at home
Milestone, and it changed her direction. A local name, for years, and no more than that.
The 1970s
She stops singing
Setback, and it changed everything. It did not pay enough to keep her children, so she stopped.
The 1980s
Stay retired, or sing on the anthology
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: sing on the record, taken, or leave it where it was. A record contract, a debut album at forty seven, worldwide success from 1992, and a Grammy at sixty three.
A compilation brings her back
Milestone, and it changed everything. One track on an anthology, and everything restarted.
She meets a producer
Milestone, and it changed everything. One producer, and a contract at forty four.
A debut at forty seven
Milestone, and it changed everything. Her first album, at forty seven.
The 1990s
Miss Perfumado
Milestone, and it changed everything. The fourth album, and the world arrived.
The Barefoot Diva
Milestone, and it changed everything. She sang barefoot, and never pretended otherwise about the rest.
The 2000s
Songs about home
Milestone, and it changed everything. She sang in Creole to rooms that did not speak it.
A Grammy at sixty three
Milestone, and it changed everything. Sixty three years old, and a Grammy.
The 2010s
She dies at seventy
Setback, and it changed everything. Seventy, and singing until near the end.
The records she made in her fifties are still what people mean by the music of her country. What she set moving began after she had given the whole thing up for good, practical, unanswerable reasons, and somebody put her on a compilation album and asked her to sing again.
Your turn
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Hers has a long flat stretch in the middle where she had stopped entirely. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Cesaria Evora: frequently asked questions
What people ask about her line.
What is Cesaria Evora's character arc?
Why did Cesaria Evora stop singing?
How did Cesaria Evora return to music?
What music did Cesaria Evora sing?
Why was Cesaria Evora called the Barefoot Diva?
Did Cesaria Evora win a Grammy?
Where does this timeline of Cesaria Evora's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with her.
Sources
- Cesaria Evora, English Wikipedia biography.
- Her discography from La Diva Aux Pieds Nus, 1988, onwards.
- The Grammy Award record of 2004.
- Contemporary accounts of her performances, as summarised there.