The opening a cappella strains of “Morona Roca” – an homage to Brazilian singer Clementia de Jesus, who mixed African religious music with Portuguese Catholic imagery – prove Monica Salmaso’s voice is powerful enough to hold it’s own. A few moments later sparse percussion emerges, and the devotional song fills out gorgeously. Throughout Iaia, weightless interplay occurs between the Brazilian songstress and her accomplished instrumentalists. The title is a slave-time bastardization of senhora, shortened from the original sinha. This indelible lady displays a mature ability to identify with popular Brazilian music in production approach while maintaining a studied effort at exploring her country’s religious folk roots. The entire record is a tribute to Brazilian legends, and her cover songs take a life of their own. She renders a stunning version of Tom Ze’s “Menna Amanha de Amanha” followed quickly by the melancholic “Vinganca,” a toada song originally performed by Gastao Formenti in the 1930s. Both songs employ the accordion in strikingly different fashions, and one quickly realizes Salmaso’s depth is far-reaching. Her carefree inquisition into samba (Christina Buarque’s “Na Aldeia” and the carioca “Cabrochinha”) matches the best of tropicalia’s groundwork. She emits an ethnographer’s knowledge of styles, exploring defunct genres accurately: the soft, subtle winds of “E Doce Morrer NO Mar” (It’s Sweet to Die in the Sea) are as captivating as the title suggests. Written by Dorival Caymmi about the Candomble’s (an Afro-Brazilian religion) Goddess of the Waters, the story tells of families who await fishermen fathers that never return. Just as the ocean has swept them into its mysterious blue, this singer inevitably draws you in. It’s a seduction you’ll pray fall victim to.

-DB