"Sodade" is a Cape Verdean song written in the 1950s by Armando Zeferino Soares,[1] and best popularized by Cesária Évora on her 1992 album Miss Perfumado.
The authorship of the song was contested, notably by the duo Amândio Cabral and Luís Morais, until a court ruled in December 2006 that Soares was the author.
This started the trend of voluntary immigration of Cape Verdeans to New England, as well as opened doors for future migration during periods of drought and following independence from Portugal.
The song Sodade refers to the migration of a small part of the population as contract laborers to São Tomé, which occurred during the authoritarian rule over Portugal and its former colonies by Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.
Departures of friends and family, known as despididas in Portuguese and Creole, were often accompanied by mornas to bid farewell to loved ones and neighbors with a serenata or serenade.