Cesária Évora

Cesária Évora was a Cape Verdean singer affectionately crowned the 'Barefoot Diva' for her custom of performing without shoes in solidarity with impoverished women and children of her homeland. For decades, Évora sang in local bars and ships' lounges in Mindelo for little pay, singing the traditional morna—the melancholy, bittersweet national music of Cape Verde expressive of longing and emigration (sodade).

In 1988, at the age of 47, Évora traveled to Paris to record her music, achieving astronomical international acclaim with her 1992 album Miss Perfumado and the timeless ballad 'Sodade'. Winning a Grammy Award and selling millions of records, Évora single-handedly put Cape Verde on the world cultural map.