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The Tropical Rickie Lee Jones
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Ode Magazine, The Tropical Rickie Lee Jones >>
Sara Tavares: Balance (World Connection/ Munich)
Why do we so often praise new artists by comparing them to well-known predecessors ("the new fill-in-the-blank")? I don't know who is impressed by this marketing tactic.
When record company World Connection launched Sara Tavares, a singer from the Cape Verde islands off the coast of western Africa, it avoided comparisons to established names. And yet it seems to me that in this case, they might have done well to make a few. The appealing music on Tavares' debut album Balance sometimes very closely resembles that of the Belgian-African group Zap Mama and it definitely has something in common with the unsurpassed American singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones, one of my own musical heroes. Like Jones, Tavares pairs a deceptive airiness and a childish quality with mature professionalism. But her roots lie squarely in the former Portuguese colonies of Africa.
Musically, Tavares is a full-blooded citizen of the world who, with out renouncing her roots, finds inspiration everywhere. She writes her own lyrics, which betray not only African influences - primarily Zimbabwean and Cape Verdean but Brazilian ones, too. She has also listened closely to the Portuguese fado singers and the best hip hop performers. Three guest performances - by hip hop DJ Melo D, fellow Cape Verdean musical explorer Boy Ge Mendes and fado singer Ana Moura - spice up things even more.
Whether Tavares can expand her style into a distinguishing trademark while avoiding affectation remains to be seen. For now, however, Balance is a strong and promising debut.
-by Ton Maas 05/01/06
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