Cesária Évora

Cesária Évora (pronunciation: /sɨˈzaɾiɐ.ˈɛvuɾɐ/) was a Cape Verdean singer, born on 27 August 1941 in Mindelo (Cape Verde, then under Portuguese rule) and who died on 17 December 2011 in São Vicente.

With her deep and gentle voice, she popularised morna, a musical genre from Cape Verde, as well as its faster variant, coladeira, to a global audience. Her recording and stage career spanned fifty-four years, from 1957 to 2011, but her success only came in the early 1990s.

She was known by several nicknames: the “Barefoot Diva” (Diva dos pés descalços), in reference to her habit of performing barefoot on stage, the “Queen of Morna” (Rainha da morna), or “Cize”, an abbreviation of her first name.

Throughout her career, she sang predominantly in her mother tongue, Cape Verdean Creole, and also in Spanish or French, hence the title of her song La Diva aux pieds nus. She performed in the world's largest venues, including the Olympia in Paris.