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CD Review
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Bay Windows, CD Review >>
By Jason Victor Serinus
Thanks to the support of the great Cesaria Evora, who invited her to perform as her opening act, Lura's captivating vocalism has brought a new, enthusiastic audience to its feet. Both women hail from Cape Verde, a poor archipelago 300 miles west of Dakar, Senegal whose African musical traditions were mostly suppressed by the Church and Portugal's colonial government prior to achieving independence in 1975 (the year of Lura's birth).
Lura's latest CD from Lusafrica, Di Korpu Ku Alma (Of Body and Soul), comes beautifully packaged in a thick, colorful album complete with song translations and a bonus DVD featuring Lura's 2004 opening act concert for Evora at Paris' Grand Rex. Short video singles shot in Cape Verde and Cuba, an autobiographical portrait, and assorted fluff complete the DVD program. All reveal an alluring artist whose earthy contralto and spirited presence prove irresistible.
After first working as a swimming teacher and dancer, Lura began singing at 17, recruited by the singer Juke to perform a duet in the commercial Zouk style of African music popular in Portugal where Lura was born and raised. Her early commercial efforts, created with a European audience in mind, included her own positively addictive song "Nha Vida." First featured on the Red Hot + Lisbon compilation for the campaign against AIDS, "Nha Vida" reappears on this album. While it may reflect an assimilated style of African music that attracts white audiences at the expense of authenticity, it allows her uplifting spirit full reign.
Lura has since become one of the first vocalists of her generation to re-explore Cape Verde's African musical heritage of funana (considered too erotic for the Christian colonialists) and batuku. The latter style developed when a dozen or more women beat a batuku rhythm on folded stacks of clothes held by their knees as a lead singer improvised poetry lampooning or critiquing community happenings while performing an extremely sensual dance called torno.
Some of the most delightful batuku-style songs on the disc, the fun "Na Ri Na" and catchy "Vazulina" (about abusing Vaseline while straightening hair with hot irons) were written by the young Orlando Pantera, who revolutionized the batuku style before dying in 2001. The fabulous "So Um Cartinha" by Lura and Fernando Andrade Lopes pokes fun at the Cape Verdean custom of asking friends who are visiting Lisbon to take back "a little letter," then presenting them with a fully packed trunk. Lura's own "Tem Um Hora Pa Tude." ("There is a Time for Everything") was written at the urging of Evora. All feature delicious, danceable rhythms and Lura's engaging warmth.
Accompaniment, limited to five acoustic musicians on the DVD, is unusually spare and sophisticated. Rather than driving the point home, Lura and her understated backup luxuriate in the sensuality and joy that fuel Cape Verde's musical renaissance. 10/21/05 >> go there
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