New Music From Cesaria Evora, Nha Sentimento

Written By: Staff Writer—Cesaria Evora has overcome poverty, a revolution, and even a recent stroke to become a national treasure of Cape Verde and uphold her reputation as an increasingly adventurous icon of world music. On her latest album, Nha Sentimento (released digitally on October 26), Cesaria ventures further afield than ever before, twisting Arabic musical traditions into bluesy, sinuous compositions from some of Cape Verde’s best songwriters.

Forty-five years since she began her career, the unassumingly matronly and weathered Evora with a crinkly, lopsided grin found her music in a studio in downtown Cairo. “This time it was from Egypt,” Evora relates, “but it can be from anywhere.” “We cross other borders to achieve other styles,” explains her producer, José da Silva. “We recorded a disk with Cuban musicians and also with Brazilian musicians. The previous album involved African musicians, and now we have taken new inspiration from Arabic music. This makes us open-minded to other cultures.”

The result is music as cosmopolitan and potent as a cocktail: a dozen exotic potables swirl in Brownian motion, lifting up a shot of pure grain Cesaria. Get more information by visiting www.cesaria-evora.com.