Café Atlantico

Description

Originating from the island nation of Cape Verde, Cesaria Evora was known as the greatest practitioner of the country's morna, a blend of West African percussion with Portuguese fados, Brazilian modinhas, and British sea shanties. After a brief singing career in the 1970s, she made a comeback in the late 80s with a series of excellent albums. Her 1999 album, Café Atlantico (a reference to her home where she frequently hosted guests), is a highly acclaimed masterpiece, in which Cesaria Evora ventures into more Latin American musical landscapes, as opposed to the Portuguese sound that dominated her earlier albums. Evora draws inspiration from traditional Cuban and Brazilian music for an enchanting effect. The music is both heartbreaking and nostalgic, warm and tragic.