From a Village in Mali to the Stages of the World
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THE AUSTRALIAN, MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2011 www.theaustralian.com.au ARTS 13 Cape Verde’s barefoot diva put From a village in Mali 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 France 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 Larry Butler, 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 Texas, 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. country music’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 Misty Blue. 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 Tammy Wynette’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.