The Barefoot Diva treads her way softly through a slow-burning serenade

Cesaria Evora

Cultural Centre Concert Hall

Ends tonight. Sold out

Halfway through her first sell-out show at the Cultural Centre on Saturday night, Cesaria Evora announced an instrumental number and took a break.

Sitting at a small table next to the grand piano at centre stage, she picked up a packet of Marlboro reds, flashed it at the audience with a cheeky smile and proceeded to light up and inhale before picking up the microphone again.

Her voice, enchantingly soft yet powerfully emotional, then filled the auditorium like a cloud of smoke again, each note hanging in the air, lacking the gravelly brashness of other forms of blues and challenging notions of the ill-effects of her habit on the voice.