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CD Review
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Anderson Independent, CD Review >>
The Cape Verde islands couldn't ask for a much better ambassador than Lura.
The native of Lisbon, Portugal, and daughter of native Cape Verdeans sings of being from the countryside on "M'Bemdi Fora," a tribute to her par ents' homeland. The re lease captures the heart of the islands off the coast of western Africa and couches it with sleek sophisti cation befitting a Euro pean capital.
An equivalent to what Lura is doing would be the work Gloria Estefan has done to bring Cuban mu sic to the world. And both singers have a similar sound powerful, tex- tured voices often deliv ered with gracious re straint.
The themes of "M'Bem di Fora" are characteristi cally third-world: "Pon- ciana" is about a woman who chooses a poor local man over an immigrant from Holland she was sup posed to marry, "As-Aqua" frets about a tardy rainy season; "BidaMariadu" is about a hardscrabble life in general, and "No Bern Fala" name-checks fa mous Cape Verdeans.
Singing in Portuguese (Cape Verde is a former colony of Portugal), Lura conveys the mood of the themes beautifully. And for those who don't speak Portuguese, the CD insert offers English transla tions.
Meanwhile, the musical language is more accessi ble to American ears than might be expected. There are few foreign (to us) in struments on "M'Bem di Fora" beyond the reoccur- ring use of cavaquinho, small guitar from Portu gal. Otherwise, the music comes from basic rock and pop instruments with fla- vorful dashes of accor dion, harmonica, violin, cello, sax and a heady, constant rush of per cussion.
The fluid rhythms flow naturally depend ing on lyrical disposi tion, and the only jar ring moments come dur ing Lura's infrequent floods of words (notably on "Ponciana," "Galan- ton" and "Es Anu Raboitas Ka Di Fiansa").
The uptempo tracks are particularly persua sive as Lura, a dancer be fore she was a singer, harnesses the power of the funana, a sensual dance style from Cape Verde. Closing cut "Fitico di Funana" "The En chantment of the Fu nana" would make even Shakira envious.
Rating: 4 out of 5 04/22/07
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