Cesária Évora - [from wikipedia.org]

It was  the spring of 2005 when I first listened one of Cesária Évora songs : Sodade.  She was singing a duet with Eleutheria Arvanitaki. As I'm a real fan of Arvanitaki, this simply was enough reference for her. In the live version of Sodade I've listened, Arvanitaki was singing Greek and Cesária Évora in Portuguese. I don't know even a word in Portuguese. Even though I was shocked and compelled with her deep and touching voice. Being one of the three F's of Salazar (football, fatima,fado), fado is really an emotion intensive music that shakes your heart and soul. For most aspects, it's like traditional Greek music rembetika. For a Turkish origin person, it's quite rational to enjoy rembetika for geographical and cultural links.  But for fado in Portuguese, some other factors are needed for such a strong compel, like fabulous voice of Cesária Évora. In wikipedia, it is written: Évora's voice, a finely-tuned, melancholy instrument with a touch of hoarseness, highlights her emotional phrasing by accenting a word or phrase. Even audiences who do not understand her language are held spell-bound by the emotions evident in her performances. Exactly. This is what you feel when you listen to her music.

Sodade (nostalgia with sadness)

Who leads you on
This long journey
Who led you on this long journey

This road leads
To São Tomé

If you write to me
Then I’ll write to you
If you forget me
Then I’ll forget you

Sodade, sodade,
Sodade
For my home island, Sâo Nicolau

Until the day you return