It was Cesaria Evora's fate to be born on Cape Verde, an archipelago 350 miles off the coast of Senegal. These ten small islands are so wind-blasted and desolate that they were uninhabited until 1462. Four centuries of exploitation followed. Even now, the poverty is so severe that over a third of the country's million citizens live abroad. Do not expect the islands' greatest singer to fill her CDs with music that makes you want to dance.

In fact, Cesaria Evora's specialty is morna, an intensely melancholy, minor-key music, sung mostly in Portuguese. But for Evora, Cape Verde's musical tradition is only the first reason that her songs are odes to longing and regret. Although she was a local star by 20, she never left the islands until she was in her mid-forties, when she finally made her first recordings.

Now she's in her 60s --- and she's the darling of the world-music crowd. But she still performs shoeless, to express her solidarity with her impoverished countrymen. She stares out at her audience from a round face that is testimony to an unending world-weariness. And at some point in every concert, she invariably sits alone at a small table, lights a cigarette and listens as the band plays on.

The last time Butler saw Cesaria Evora, she came onstage in a simple dress and delivered two dozen exquisitely mournful songs. Then, for the final encore, the band played with an energy and rhythm that was first cousin to the Cuban jazz of the Buena Vista Social Club. The crowd was on its feet, hands over heads, clapping and dancing. The only person in the theater who seemed unmoved was Evora, who stood apart, stolidly accepting their love. At last, she spoke just two words: "Obligado. Terminée." And then she permitted herself one small, delicious shimmy.

What CD to buy first? Start with "The Very Best of Cesaria Evora." And then --- because you will be helpless to resist her --- work back.

--- by Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com

To buy "The Very Best of Cesaria Evora" from Amazon.com, click here.

Copyright 2004 by Head Butler Inc.