Sara Tavares
Tavares in 2011
Tavares in 2011
Background information
Birth nameSara Alexandra Lima Tavares
Born(1978-02-01)1 February 1978
Lisbon, Portugal
Died19 November 2023(2023-11-19) (aged 45)
Lisbon, Portugal
Genres
Years active1994–2023
Tavares signing a copy of her latest record in Warsaw, September 2011

Sara Alexandra Lima Tavares (1 February 1978 – 19 November 2023) was a Portuguese singer, composer, guitarist and percussionist. She was born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal. Second-generation Portuguese of Cape Verdean descent, she composed African-, Portuguese- and North American-influenced world music.

Early life

Tavares's parents were immigrants from Cape Verde who settled in Almada in the 1970s.[2] She was born on 1 February 1978.[3] While still a child, she was left in the care of an old woman when her father left the family and her mother moved to the south of the country with her younger siblings.[4]

Tavares showed great musical promise from a young age; in 1994 she won the national television song contest Chuva de Estrelas,[5][6] performing Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time".[6] That same year, she won the Festival da Canção, that earned Tavares a slot in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest[4] at the age of 16. Her winning song, "Chamar a Música," was featured on her debut EP, Sara Tavares & Shout (1996), where Tavares mixed gospel and funk with her native Portuguese influences.

Her debut album Mi Ma Bô was produced by Lokua Kanza and released in 1999.[7]

In 2017, eight years after Xinti, Tavares released Fitxadu.[8] The album was inspired in Lisbon's different African sounds and cultures and features a more electronic and urban sound than Tavares's previous works.[9] The album received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Portuguese Language Roots Album.[10]

Artistry

Tavares composed in Portuguese and Portuguese-based creole languages. Although Portuguese was the main language of her songs, her repertoire includes multilingual songs mixing Portuguese with Portuguese Creole and even English in the same song.

She won the 1993/1994 final of the Endemol song contest Chuva de Estrelas (performing Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time"), which helped her win the Portuguese Television Song Contest final in 1994, consequently earning a place in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Chamar a Música" which reached 8th place.

Tavares was also known for singing the European-Portuguese version of "God Help the Outcasts" for the Disney movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which won a Disney Award for the best version of the original song. She also won a Portuguese Golden Globe for Best Portuguese Singer in 2000.

Tavares named Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin as her favourite childhood artists.[4] Her music was noted to feature a blending of cultures,[11] particularly those of Portugal and Cape Verde.[1] Tavares was among a group of Portuguese-born artists of African origins, that helped bring African influences to mainstream music in Portugal.[12]

Personal life

In 2021, Tavares publicly revealed that she discovered she was bisexual at the age of 24.[13]

Death

Sara Tavares died on 19 November 2023 in Lisbon, at age 45, from a brain tumour with which she had been diagnosed in 2009.[3][14]

Discography

  • Sara Tavares & Shout (1996)
  • Mi Ma Bô (1999)
  • Balancê (2006)
  • Alive! in Lisboa (2008)
  • Xinti (2009)
  • Fitxadu (2017)[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Pareles, Jon (23 January 2007). "Individualists, Straddling Cultures and Exporting Ideas". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  2. ↑ Bonifácio, João (1 May 2009). "Sara Tavares, uma mulher do seu tempo" (in Portuguese). Público. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  3. 1 2 "🇵🇹 In memoriam: Sara Tavares". Eurovision Universe. 19 November 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Steward, Sue (30 November 2007). "Careful whispers". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  5. 1 2 Dias de Almeida, Pedro (20 November 2017). "'Fitxadu': Sara Tavares é do mundo, outra vez" (in Portuguese). Visão. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  6. 1 2 "Após vencer 'The Voice' de Portugal, cantora larga gospel e volta às origens" (in Portuguese). BBC Brasil. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  7. ↑ Lusk, Jon. "Awards for World Music 2007 - Sara Tavares". BBC Radio 3.
  8. ↑ Frota, Gonçalo (20 October 2017). "Sara Tavares à escuta dos sons que a rodeiam" (in Portuguese). Público. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  9. ↑ Pereira, Mariana (28 October 2017). "Sara Tavares voltou e canta feliz como um puto atrás da bola" (in Portuguese). Diário de Notícias. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  10. ↑ Merrill, Philip (20 September 2018). "2018 Latin GRAMMY Awards Complete Winners List". Grammy Awards. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  11. ↑ Espiner, Mark (19 March 2006). "Sara Tavares, Balancê". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  12. ↑ Sieber, p. 142
  13. ↑ "Sara Tavares: "Tinha 24 anos quando percebi que era bissexual"". esQrever (in European Portuguese). 13 August 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  14. ↑ "Sara Tavares (1978-2023): uma vida a chamar a música". Público. 19 November 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2023.

Sources

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