[ 14th December 1991, the date of a memorable concert at the New Morning in Paris.]
"By 7.30 p.m., more than 200 people had begun to queue in icy rain in front of the club, which had not organised any particular security. Two hours later, it was full to bursting and turning away late arrivals, mainly Cape Verdeans.
An audience of five hundred, above all European, was packed into the club, now a melting pot of anonymous individuals, journalists and VIPs.
The atmosphere was electric.
It was impossible to move around: people were on top of each other and sitting anywhere they could.
When the musicians appeared on stage followed by Cesaria, the crowd exploded in delighted relief. All the things that would go to make up her legend were there: her seemingly impassive, even indifferent air as she stood immobile with the microphone in one hand and a cigarette in the other; the bottle of whisky on a little table behind the piano; the conversations with the musicians with her back turned to the audience; the humorous jibes exchanged with the scattering of Cape Verdeans in the house between songs, leaving the rest of the crowd bewildered (‘What did she say?’). Especially, there was her clear voice loaded with emotion as she sang her mornas and coladeras. Mar Azul, Cize and Cinturão Tem Mele met with thunderous applause, but the song that really left a mark was Sodade, which Cesaria would record for the Miss Perfumado album the following year: a revelation!
At the end of the scheduled set, she slipped away to her dressing room while the crowd applauded tirelessly and called out for more. Unfamiliar with the idea of an encore, Cesaria savoured her cigarette, happy to have found the kind of audience she had secretly long been hoping for. It would take a few more months and many arguments to persuade her that here it was usual to come back on stage to sing a few extra songs when the audience showed such enthusiasm at the end of a concert."
François Post
Photo : ©Pierre Rene-Worms / Lusafrica
