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CD Review
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Washington Post, CD Review >>
By: Mark Jenkins
According to the translated lyrics on Lura's new album, "M'Bem di Fora," the title means "I've Come From Far Away." But the phrase can also be rendered as "I Come From the Country," a reference to the Lisbon-born singer's Cape Verdean heritage. Either way, Lura's style is decidedly not provincial. As filtered through her Iberian influences, the songs on Lura's second U.S. release are elegant and urbane, with strolling cadences accented by cafe accordion, flamenco guitar, cool-jazz sax and, on "Pensa Dret," a honking harmonica.
Though she began as backup singer for Césaria Évora, Cape Verde's best-known exponent of the plaintive "morna," Lura doesn't restrict herself to a single style or tempo. The Cape Verde islands are off the coast of Senegal, and West African rhythms drive some of these songs, notably the title tune, whose twangy guitar intro has a spaghetti western flavor. Lura didn't visit the isles where her parents were born until she was 21, and such smooth ballads as "Bida Mariadu" show that she's entirely at home with contemporary neo-lounge material. Still, there's a special verve to such syncopated numbers as "No Bem Fala," which dance toward Lura's ancestral homeland. 04/06/07 >> go there
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