“Cape Verdean Blues” is a carefully curated collection of traditional mornas and coladeiras—a love letter to Cesaria Evora’s breathtaking archipelago. Resonating with the music’s language of loss, acclaimed jazz vocalist Kavita Shah, herself the daughter of immigrants, found solace in the songs’ universal story of diaspora. Her ethnographic research on the Atlantic island of São Vicente and her collaboration with Evora’s longtime band members--guitarist Bau and percussionist Miroca Paris--enabled her to achieve a rare feat: creating a world music album that feels like a homecoming.

 

Kavita Shah is an award-winning vocalist, composer, researcher, polyglot, and educator who makes work in deep engagement with the jazz tradition, while also addressing and advancing its global sensibilities. Her projects include "Visions" (2014), produced by Lionel Loueke, "Folk Songs of Naboréa" (2017), commissioned by the Park Avenue Armory, and "Interplay" (2018), in duet with François Moutin, which was nominated for the Victoires de la Musique (France) in the category of Jazz Album of the Year. Kavita regularly presents her music at major concert halls, festivals, and clubs on six continents.

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