Cesaria Evora in Concert!

I had the privilege of attending the concert of two amazing divas – Cesaria Evora and Mayra Andrade.  What an outstanding evening!  The night started with a new artist, Mayra Andrade, who had such charm, elegance and grace and a wonderful connection with the audience.  At one point I was moved to tears just watching her in her element and listening to the gorgeous Cape Verdean rhythms!  She had composed some of the songs herself and enjoyed herself immensely on stage.  I couldn’t help but be drawn to her magnetic personality during the performance.
Cesaria Evora was the last performer of the night and walked on stage barefoot as she is usually accustomed to doing.  She is now 69 years old and still performing! Amazing to see such talent on stage.  The music was heavenly and at one point everyone was standing up dancing in front of their chairs (I was dancing in the aisle too)!  One couldn’t help but move when listening to the amazing bossa nova rhythms and drums.
At one point during the night, there was an interactive period with the audience and the MC was giving away a couple of autographed CDs from Cesaria Evora.  To win a CD, the audience had to answer what the birth date of Cesaria Evora is.  Ironically, just before the concert, I was telling my children about her and my daughter did a google search to find out more about her and excitedly shared that Cesaria’s birthday is close to my daughter’s birthday and told me the date!  Usually I don’t have a great memory for facts and figures but for some reason her birthday stuck in my head because it was close to my daughters birthday and I was trying to figure out how old she was on my way to the concert! So thanks to my wonderful children, I won an autographed CD tonight! 🙂
Big thanks go to Helen Rutstein and her lovely family as they invited me to the concert (you’re a darling Helen) :D.  It truly was a treat to be part of such a festive evening!