Kavita Shah

Award-winning jazz vocalist, composer, and educator Kavita Shah brings her latest album, Cape Verdean Blues to National Sawdust. Cape Verdean Blues is a 12-song album of mainly traditional Cape Verdean music, carefully curated as a tribute to morna singer Cesária Évora, the archipelago of Cape Verde, and its welcoming people. Kavita Shah blends a jazz approach with tradition to convey a sense of “sodade,” the Kriolu word for a melancholy sense of transience that encapsulates both the Cape Verdean experience and that of modern global migrants. Cape Verdean Blues is the culmination of a diaspora’s quest to find a spiritual home, a gift from Shah to the Cape Verdean people for providing that sense of home that has eluded her as the daughter of immigrants. Join us as Kavita Shah celebrates the music and warm-spirited people of Cape Verde, alongside master musicians from the islands: guitarist Bau (Cesária’s former musical director), guitarist Jorge Almeida, percussionist Miroca Paris, and special guest vocalist Fantcha.