THE AUSTRALIAN, MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2011 www.theaustralian.com.au ARTS 13

Cape Verde’s barefoot diva put From a village in to African island music on the map

Cesaria Evora started OBITUARY singing as an orphan Cesaria Evora girl in bars, and rose the stages of the world Singer. Born Mindelo, Cape to international fame Verde, August 27, 1941. with her soulful Died December 17, age 70. versions of songs from her native Cape Verde islands

CESARIA Evora, who started singing as a teenager in the bay- side bars of Cape Verde in the 1950s and won a Grammy in 2003 after she took her African islands GETTY IMAGES music to stages across the world, has died at age 70. millions. She won a Grammy in — I value my freedom,’’ she said. Evora, known as the ‘‘Barefoot the world music category in 2003 At 16, when Evora was doing Diva’’ because she always per- for her album Voz D’Amor. piecework as a seamstress, a formed without shoes, died in the Evora, known to her friends as friend persuaded her to sing in Baptista de Sousa Hospital in Cize (pronounced see-zeh), was one of the many sailors’ taverns in Mindelo, on her native island of the best-known performer of her town, and she was a hit. As her Sao Vicente in Cape Verde, said morna,CapeVerde’snational popularity grew, she was rowed her label, Lusafrica. music. It is a complex, soulful out into the bay to sing on an- She sang the traditional music sound,mixingtheinfluencesfrom chored ships. of the Cape Verde Islands off the African and seafaring trad- She received no pay, just free West Africa, a former Portuguese itions of the 10 volcanic islands. drinks. She used to smile when colony. She mostly sang in the Evora was born August 27, she recalled her fame as a heavy creole spoken there, but even 1941, and grew up in Mindelo, a cognac drinker. And she sadly re- audiences who could not under- port city of 47,000 people on the called the exact day, December 15, stand the lyrics were moved by island of Sao Vicente, where 1994, that she had to give up her stirring renditions, her un- sailors from Europe, the Amer- drinking for her health’s sake. pretentious manner and the icas, Africa and Asia mingled in a Evora did not think much of music’s infectious beat. lively cosmopolitan town with a her international stardom, and Her singing style brought com- fabled nightlife. she went back to Mindelo when- parisons to jazz diva Billie Holi- The local musical style bor- ever she could. She rebuilt her day. ‘‘She belongs to the aristoc- rowed from those cultures, defy- childhood home, turning it into a racy of bar singers,’’ Le Monde ing attempts to classify it. 10-bedroom house where friends commented in 1991, saying Evora ‘‘Our music is a lot of things,’’ and family often stayed over, and had ‘‘a voice to melt the soul’’. Evora told the Associated Press in she always made sure she was Global fame came late in life. a2000interviewatherhome. home for Christmas. Her 1988 album La Diva Aux Pieds ‘‘Somesay it’slike theblues orjazz. Aheavysmokerfordecades, Nus (‘‘The Barefoot Diva’’), re- Others say it’s like Brazilian or Af- Evora was diagnosed with heart corded in where she first rican music, but no one really problems in 2005. She suffered found popularity, launched her knows. Not even the old ones.’’ strokes in 2008, and in September international career. Evora was seven years old this year, when she announced Evora’s 1995 album Cesaria was when her father died, leaving a she was retiring. released in more than a dozen widow and seven children. At 10, Evora had a son and a daughter countries and brought her first and with her mother unable to by different men, and valued fam- Grammy nomination, leadingto a makeendsmeet,shewasplacedin ily life, but she never married. world tour and album sales in the a local orphanage. ‘‘I didn’t like it AP

The Paris-based Fatoumata Diawara is preparing to make her Australian debut at the Sydney Festival in January Blanket gave star an overdue hit sides, you wouldn’t blame the backing vocals on albums he was Like Sangare, Fatou also hails Paris-based artist for tripping over producing for the African- from the lush Wassoulou region Her precocious appearance led The next six years were to Fatoumata Diawara, who mixes old and new her high-tops now and then. But American jazz chanteuse Dee Dee of southern Mali, nestled on the OBITUARY toherfirstrecording,thecuteteen prove her most fruitful. styles, is being hailed as a superstar in the making apart from a visibly nervous per- Bridgewater (2007’s Grammy- border with Guinea, where trad- Billie Jo Spears novelty song Too Old for Toys, Working with Nashville pro- formance in a London basement winning Red Earth)andMalian itional music is based on ancient Singer. Born Beaumont, Too Young for Boys,writtenfor ducer , it was a mea- pub earlier this year, at a showcase megastar OumouSangare (2009’s hunting rituals and characterised her by Rhodes and which ap- sure of her lowly stock at the time JANE CORNWELL , January 14, 1937. held exclusively for journalists, Grammy-nominated Seya). Fatou by the jittery yet funky kamelen- Died December 14, aged peared in 1953 on the Abbott label that she recorded Blanket on the Fatou has lived up to the hype. then toured the world as a singer goni (or male hunter’s harp). 74. under the name Billie Jo Moore. It Ground after it had been turned AFRICAN music divas don’t tend playerFleafromtheRedHotChili From a head-banging set at WO- and dancer with both projects. And like Sangare — who sings proved something of a false start down by several bigger stars. But to wear prom dresses, let alone Peppers and legendary Nigerian MAD UK in July to her European Some of the songs on Fatou — the out about everything from ar- and it was more than a decade be- both the song and her spirited de- team them with lime-green tights Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen in support slot with Congolese sen- ones about illegal immigration ranged marriage to polygamy — fore she was to record again. livery of it touched a nerve. and glittery high-top trainers. a showcase-come-jam session for sations Staff BendaBilili (who’ll be and war — were written while she Fatou has women’s rights at heart. BILLIE Jo Spears was one of After moving to Nashville in First, the lyrics were mildly sal- Neither do they tend to play elec- Albarn’s eclectic record label, playing WOMADelaide next was on the road. ‘‘Oumou is my reference point. ’s most distinctive search of a contract in 1964, she acious and yet the track was en- tric guitars and jazz, pop and blues Honest Jon’s. Her statuesque March), with each gig she does ‘‘I can’t understand war,’’ says There are many singers in Mali leading ladies. signed briefly with United Artists tirely inoffensive as the couple in riffs, or stop midway through their presence and lilting vocals have Fatou only gets better. but she is the one who decided to She enjoyed a string of chart before moving to Capitol, which the song seeking to revive the pas- sets to dance, leap and generally lent extra cachet to the evening, ‘‘Somebody told me the voice I change everything for African hits in the 1970s, including Blanket released her first album, The sion of their relationship were wig out. and to her burgeoning reputation. haveisolderthanIam,’’shesaysin ‘I find a sweet women and women everywhere. I on the Ground, What I’ve Got in Voice of Billie Jo Spears, in 1968. man and wife. And second, what- Mali’s Fatoumata Diawara, No matter that Fatou isn’t her sunny, upbeat way. ‘‘They want to continue what Oumou Mind and . Her chart breakthrough came ever problems Spears had en- however, is as unconventional as signed to Honest Jon’s but to think that maybe it once belonged melody and try to started, and be a role model for With her full-bodied, rich voice the next year with Mr Walker It’s dured with her vocal cords, the she is beautiful and talented. Little World Circuit, theBritish label be- to my aunt; eventually it will be touch people Malian women.’’ and husky, rural twang, Spears All Over, which boasted a distinct treatment had not only worked wondershe’sbeinghailedasasup- hind the Buena Vista Social Club. passed to the next generation. It is differently’ A pause. ‘‘I can’t talk about men represented Nashville’s old touch of women’s lib, rare in but left her sounding more confi- erstar in the making. Or that Mali in West Africa has a gift. I am lucky. I have to use it.’’ in depth,’’ she says, ‘‘because I am school at a time when country Nashville, where the sentiments dent and distinctive than ever. ‘‘I like to mix old and new musi- long produced extraordinary mu- Fatou set out to be an actress, FATOUMATA DIAWARA not a man.’’ music’s robust traditions were in of ’s Stand by A few months shy of her 40th SINGER-SONGWRITER cal styles,’’ says the almond-eyed sical stars, many of whom — Tou- not a singer. She was a teenaged Having recently sought rapp- danger of being swamped by Your Man, released the same year, birthday, Nashville’s Academy of chanteuse, 29, whose wildly ac- mani Diabate, Oumou Sangare, lead in the ancient Greek drama rochement with her father, Fatou syrupy pop arrangements. more closely reflected what coun- Country Music named her most claimed debut Fatou (World Cir- Rokia Traore — have previously Antigone,andenjoyedvarious Fatou with a shrug. ‘‘I can’t under- visited the Wassoulou village of In later years she was eclipsed try music expected of its women. promising female vocalist in 1976. cuit) has given her a leg-up on toured Australia. roles with French touring com- stand why people would want to her childhood. It was a village of in the US charts by a new gener- But this success proved to be But she fulfilled the promise international celebrity. ‘‘It’s not With her model good looks and pany Royal de Luxe. But when her kill each other. My job is to give bona fide nobles, she says, where ation of female country singers. yet another false dawn. Between with a string of further hits includ- easy. Not many people in my quirky style, her Bambara- voice, this gift, was overheard fill- love.’’ everyone had the same surname: Most of her later albums were 1969 and 1971 Spears recorded five ing Sing Me an Old Fashioned country do both. My traditional language lyrics and leftfield take ing dressing rooms of theatres in She pauses for a beat. ‘‘Love, Diawara. Every one of them sang made exclusively for the British more albums for Capitol, all of Song, Misty Blue and Never Did Wassoulou music comes nat- on contemporary folk and funk, Europe, Vietnam and Mexico love, love, love,’’ she reiterates, the same way she did, their voices market and she continued to sell which failed to make a commer- Like Whiskey (1976); I’m not Easy urally to me, but it wasn’t until I Fatou has an appeal far beyond (‘‘Every day I would sing after re- smiling again. While keen not be filled with emotion and laughter. out concert tours there long after cial mark, perhaps because they and If You Want Me (1977); 57 heard Nina Simone and Ella world music specialists. hearsal, for myself, because I was considered a protest singer — ‘‘They told me I was their singer,’’ her star had waned in the US. lacked a distinctive direction. Chevrolet and Love Ain’t Gonna Fitzgerald, along with the great Her story is a publicist’s dream: homesick’’), the director asked her other songs embrace the pain of she says, ‘‘that I had a respons- Spears’s approach had more in Covers of hits by other artists Wait for Us (1978). But her 1981 (Mama Africa) Miriam Makeba, she ran away from her family in to sing solo during a performance. adoption and the abhorrent but ibilitytocontinue singinguntilthe common with an earlier and ear- suchasGamesPeoplePlay,Harper cover of Tammy Wynette’s Your that I understood how to blend after they insisted she She did, and between shows commonplace Malian practice of next generation came along, that I thier era when singers such as Valley PTA and Ode to Billie Joe Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad marked that sound with modern styles.’’ give up acting and marry, even she started writing her own songs. female circumcision — she is should get my music into every Loretta Lynn and Bobbie Gentry jostled alongside novelty songs, at her last appearance in the US With cowrie shells attached to sending her to be raised by her ac- Encouraged by her friend Rokia nonetheless on a mission to bring household in the world.’’ were country’s reigning queens. the cost of obscuring the more country chart. She continued to her long cornrow plaits and layers tress aunt for 10 years. Traore, she taught herself the change. ‘‘But my approach is dif- Spears was born into a original material, some of it writ- record and tour in later years, of netting peeping out from under There have been TV appear- guitar and began playing Parisian ferent. There are many women working-class family in 1937 in ten by Rhodes. concentrating on Britain. her strapless black dress, Fatou — ances and sell-out shows; she’ll be clubs and cafes. Word spread. who have tried to change the way Fatoumata Diawara plays the Beaumont, Texas, and at 13, after The lack of sales and a serious She had triple bypass surgery these days she just goes by Fatou making her Australian debut at The celebrated Malian pro- things are and had huge problems. Idolize Spiegeltent, Parramatta, having been discovered by medical problem with her vocal in 1993 before she resumed tour- —issitting backstageattheBarbi- the Sydney Festival in January. ducer and musician Cheikh So I keep my smile, find a sweet January 17; Famous Spiegeltent, songwriter and producer Jack cords resulted in the loss of her ing and released her last album, can in London. The singer- These days everyone wants a Tidiane Seck — who is also at the melody, especially if it is a difficult Sydney, January 20 and 21; Rhodes, she appeared on the tele- contract, but she fought back and I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,in songwriterhasjust joinedthelikes piece of Fatou. With next-big- Barbican with Albarn and co — subject, and try to touch people Sutherland Entertainment Centre, vision and radio country show after a spell of rehabilitation she 2005. She was married five times. of Blur’s , bass thing pressure coming from all invited Fatou back to Mali to sing differently.’’ January 22. . signed in 1975 to United Artists. THE TIMES

Nuanced works draw on the disciplined imagination 2 7

Wasp 2011.Heistalentedbuthis could possibly induce one to VISUAL ART style gets in the way instead of be- imagine a branch in a plastic bag is Dobell Prize coming invisible, as it were, in its a good subject for a drawing? Art Gallery of NSW, revelation of the subject. On the Are there any drawings that hit 14 Sydney. Until February 5. otherhand,itiseasytobetooliter- the mark? One of the outstanding al and illustrative, as in Michael works is Buckets of Rain, Graeme Glasheen’s Guringai Country or Drendel’s figure of a man carrying CHRISTOPHER ALLEN even Greg Hansell’s pastel draw- two pails of water: the subject is 19 ing Train Day, Thirlmere. everyday and yet odd, while the CONTRARY to what many peo- One way of being too literal is style is correspondingly matter- ple believe, one can learn to draw. to rely on photography, a deadly of-fact and understated but some- 17 But it requires a mixture of deter- trap for artist; instead of engaging how imbued with presence. An- mination and confidence with with the world in an imaginative otherthat isparticularly strikingis what some take to be the incom- way, you end up as the servile Rachel Ellis’s Evensong, in which a patible qualities of patience, hu- copyist of a mechanical picture. suburban streetscape is rendered 25 mility and a willingness to submit This is the problem with Joseph in a deep tonal style adapted from to the yoke of practice. Felber’s huge and at first sight im- Seurat. In these and a few other Everyone knows this is true if pressive picture of a mountain, in cases, there is a sense of life that you want to learn to play a musical Anne Judell with her series Breath, which won the Dobell Prize whichrock andsnow arerendered draws you to look more carefully. instrument, but for some reason in black graphite over white- In spite of what I said about few really understand the same painted plywood, but of necessity uninteresting abstracts, Allan principle applies to drawing. ing and spontaneous drawings etic resonance in the relationship following a photographic map. Mitelman’s Untitled stands out be- What does your Perhaps it is because we see disappear and are increasingly between the materials employed Superficially different in form cause the work is a collage of little children drawing with such replaced with kitsch: they learn and the phenomena represented. but equally photographic in its share-price tables, balancing con- charm and spontaneity. We im- formulas for big eyes and copy The handling of materials foundation, is Pei Pei He’s scroll of ceptual content against pattern. car need for Christmas? agine this is an innate gift, and it is cartoons and commercial art. doesn’t have to be virtuosic but it life in a city street: although com- Anne Judell’s winning series, true children pass through certain The paradise of childish art is has to be responsive. Showy mock posed entirely of roughly horizon- Breath, is also essentially abstract, If it’s not doing anything when you press the brake predictable developmental stages lost; the spontaneity is gone and technique without substance is tal pencil lines, the referent is not yet more substantial than the oth- SHGDOLWZDQWV\RXWRUHÀOOWKHÁXLGRUÀ[WKHEUDNHV in the way they picture the world. must be replaced with the disci- worse than mere clumsiness, the world but a snapshot, and the ers because of the refinement and But this is in a cultural environ- pline of drawing, which means which is why the abstract draw- work is correspondingly inert un- care of her technique and because %HIRUH\RXGULYHDQ\ZKHUH ment surrounded by images, not understanding materials and ings tend to look like wallpaper der its superficial animation. the strange forms she evokes only in the public domain, but reaching out to give an account of and even the representational The other way of being too hover between the cosmic and Drive safely, and have a happy holiday. especially in the books they are the experiential world. ones that are too self-conscious literal is in the banality of the biomorphic, not quite planets in given from infancy. Children It isn’t easy to get the balance in technique become tiresome. objects chosen. In Reservoir, formation, not quite underwater growing without images would right, as can be seen in any draw- This is the problem with God- Berenice Carrington has done a creatures like sea anemones. As not exhibit the same behaviour. ing exhibition thatbrings together win Bradbeer’s picture, Man of Six lifesize image of a baby’s stroller Guy Warren, this year’s judge, But in any case children reach a a variety of artists, such as the an- Titles: Man of Glass, The Bachelor swathed in mosquito netting. But observes, ‘‘the chosen work point in later childhood and early nual Dobell Prize. What makes a of Arts, White Man Dancing, Mis- why? One can ask the same ques- demands attention by calling adolescence at which the charm- good drawing is a tautness, a po- ter Artistico, Transfixed Man, The tion of John Scurry’s Branch: what softly’’ to the viewer.