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Sample Track 1:
"Balancê" from Balancê (Times Square Records)
Sample Track 2:
"Planeta Sukri (Featuring Boy Gê Mendes)" from Balancê (Times Square Records)
Buy Recording:
Balancê (Times Square Records)
Layer 2
CD Review

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Wild Blue Yonder, CD Review >>

--by John Farmer

Some singers can radiate a cool, calm energy with every note they hit. Sara Tavares is one of those singers.

Tavares' 2006 release, "Balancê," can dance and groove and burn with Latin, African and Caribbean rhythms, but it is underscored with a deep sense of tranquility. Sung in Portuguese, the songs have gentle arrangements filled with lilting acoustic guitars and exotic hand drums. Tavares has aptly called the album a group of lullabies.

Although much of the album is great, the title track is the stand out tune. On "Balancê" she has somehow managed to move countries, islands, continents and push them all together. Brazil mingles with Zimbabwe, Jamaica smiles at Portugal. It's a rare talent than can unite such disparate sounds into a single song. The album is already a hit in Portugal, where it has gone gold. And with a 2006 tour that took her across Europe, Canada and the United States, she's becoming known throughout the world. An ambassador for Cape Verdeans everywhere, Tavares was even lucky enough to spend part of the year as a guest artist in Japan with the popular Japanese jazz musician Sadao Watanabe.  02/20/07 >> go there
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