“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 Rufino Almeida (aka "Bau") and Miroca Paris enabled her to achieve a rare feat: creating a world music album that feels like a homecoming. 

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Bau and Kavita began their collaboration in 2016 in Mindelo, where they have performed at the Kavala Fresk Festival and Centro Nacional de Arte e Design. Bau, whose luthier father taught him how to play and construct the guitar, cavaquinho, and violin, played for many years with Cesária and served as her musical director before moving onto his solo projects. Bau's composition "Raquel" was notably featured by Spanish director Pedro Almódovar in his 2002 film Talk to Her, and Bau is consistently hailed as the leading proponent of Cape Verdean traditional guitar.

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The highly creative percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Miroca Paris joined Kavita and Bau in the studio in Lisbon and New York. Miroca, who most recently released his solo album D'Alma, also toured with the Barefoot Diva Cesária, among other international artists like Madonna, Chico Cesar, Cuba Rosetta, Tito Paris, Bana, and Sara Tavares.

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"Cape Verdean Blues," which also features guest vocalist Fantcha, will be released in 2023.