Bluesy ballads and emotional rhythms will fill Weigel Hall Auditorium tonight when Cesaria Evora debuts in Columbus.Evora, a singer from the island of Cape Verde, off the coast of Senegal, is well known in Europe while relatively new to listeners in the United States. However, her 1995 album Cesaria Evora, her first American recording, has earned Evora a Grammy nomination and a spot on ‘Best of the Year’ lists in more than a dozen major U.S. publications including the New York Times, Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times. In her concert tonight, presented with the support of the Ohio Arts Council and the Wexner Center Foundation, Evora will sing her morna, the Cape Verdean version of the blues. This style includes songs of love, longing and sadness that has been drawn from her background of poverty and bawdy nightlife.’Morna has that kind of appeal,’ said Chuck Helm, director of performing arts for the Wexner Center for the Arts.This music has a great emotional power to it, he said.Evora, known as the ‘Barefoot Diva’ for appearing on stage without shoes as a sign of solidarity with the disadvantaged women and children of her homeland, started her singing career at age 7 by sitting in with her father’s band. She began singing professionally at age 16, but it wasn’t until she met producer Jose da Silva, in Portugal in 1985, that her singing career took off. She traveled to Paris with him and recorded La Diva aux Pieds Nus in 1988.After the 1992 release of her album Miss Perfumado, which was a hit across Europe, Evora could finally be considered a star at age 52.’Cesaria is just a fabulous singer,’ Helm said. ‘We’ve been wanting to bring her here for quite some time.’The Wexner Center is always on the look out for ‘the most interesting talent, including those performing world music,’ he said’Her lyrics are really wonderful,’ Helm said. ‘The music has a story telling tradition.’Evora’s beautiful voice is backed by a variety of instruments including multiple guitars, the cavaquinho (small 4-string rhythm guitar), violin, accordion and clarinet.These instruments are recorded live on the album to enhance the depth of Evora’s sound in her soothing melodies like ‘Petit Pays’ (Little Country) and ‘Xandinha,’ while giving energy to more up tempo songs such as ‘Consedjo’ (Advice) and ‘D’nhirim reforma’ (Pension Money).’She has a beautiful voice,’ said Maxx Faulkner, music director at WCBE-FM 90.5 and host of the program ‘The Global Village.’WCBE is the media sponsor for Evora’s concert and her music can be heard on the station’s regular rotation of music.Evora has been compared to singers Edith Piaf, Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith, and Faulkner said that these are good comparisons.’It puts it into a perspective that Western ears can digest,’ he said.Faulkner said the age range for those listening to Evora’s style of music is late twenties and on up.’People are tired of the same rehash, paint-by-the-numbers music,’ he said. ‘Listeners can appreciate it and do want to hear music in a foreign language.”I think it’s wonderful that she’s coming to Columbus,’ Faulkner said.Tonight’s concert begins at 8 p.m.