Cesaria Evora

World Stage. Cal Performances presents Cesaria Evora. With her Cape Verdean style of morna, the songstress returns.

“The soulful, rich-as-fruitcake voice of Cape Verdean” (The Daily Telegraph, Australia) chanteuse Cesaria Evora returns to Cal Performances Thursday & Friday, October 9 & 10 at 8:00 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall. The queen of morna, as she is often referred to, brings the traditional and melancholic style that fuses Latin jazz and Afro beats with traces of Portuguese fado and Brazilian modinha. “Morna is a little bit similar [to] blues” explains the multiple Grammy-winning Evora. “We express our suffering; we express our separation between people who love each other…[and] sometimes politics and racism, too.” In a literal reference to her style on stage, the nickname Barefoot Diva is also widely embraced. For the two performances in Berkeley, Evora will be accompanied by her band, creating “honey-smooth, resonant, unhurried sound evoking bittersweet emotions” (The Daily Telegraph, Australia).