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Mariza, Top of the World
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Songlines, Mariza, Top of the World >>
There's been much excitement over Mariza's first studio album in three years, generated both by its teasing release in her homeland months before anywhere else and a marketing hype that claims a new direction.
Well, long-term fans can relax, for she sounds as captivating as ever and at the grand old age of 34 is singing with greater nuance and lucidity than ever before, while the fresh developments on display sound completely natural and fitting. The repertoire is wider and the palette of sounds broader: all 14 songs here boast different composers and only a couple of names are familiar from her past recordings. Contributors include Brazilians, Cubans, Cape Verdeans and even Sting's longtime guitarist, Dominic Miller.
Yet, just as everything Eliza Carthy sings still sounds folk, there's something about Mariza's aesthetic that is so deeply steeped in the fado tradition that it will always be there, however far she ventures. A loose jazziness to some of the arrangements adds a welcome extra syncopation to the more square-cornered rhythms of fado, while Miller's classical guitar lends an easy mellifluousness to three tracks. Beijo de Saudadeí is a bid for Cesaria Evora's mantle, a duet with the suitably smokily voiced Cape Verdean Tito Paris. Fronteiraí is an exercise in fado-meets-Cuban jazz with Chucho Valdes on piano. As Guitarrasí is late-night Brazilian cocktail tinkling, lifted by a shimmering vocal of pure class. Pequenas Verdadesí, written by Spain's Javier Limun (who also produced) features the guest vocals of Buika and is a wonderful Iberian flamenco-fado hybrid. A special mention, too, must go to the trumpet of Carlos Sarduy, who plays superbly throughout.
All the hype turns out to be thrillingly true. Terra is an album that really does move boldly and brilliantly in new directions, while remaining profoundly rooted in fado's heritage. Magnificent.
by Nigel Williamson 11/01/08 >> go there
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