Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Protegid, by Carmen Souza

I waited long and hard to get my hands on Protegid, as its release here in the States was several months behind the album's European release. But as the tired old age adage goes, excellent Cape Verdean afro-jazz albums featuring Carmen Souza's distinctive purr of a voice come to those who wait. Protegid is Carmen Souza's third studio album and is her best one to date. It's been fascinating to hear and accompany Souza's musical maturity and evolution. The Carmen Souza of Protegid, polished and confident, dazzling and experimental, is a couple of steps further than the Carmen Souza of that first album, Ess ê Nha Cabo Verde.

Protegid is a flowing expression of Cape Verdean creole music heavily influenced by contemporary musical styles, most notably jazz. It's the natural progression of Cape Verdean music, which played a heavy hand in the musicality that evolved in the Americas, brought there by the slaves and later sailors that constantly voyaged between the west African archipelago and the American coast. Among my favorite tunes from Protegid are Afri Ka and Magia Ca Tem. You might remember Afri Ka from Carmen's second album, Verdade, but this version is markedly better, more free flowing, liberated even. Carmen's performance in it, verbally and instrumentally, is tantalizing. Magia Ca Tem highlights her music's jazz qualities, starting off very Cape Verdean but slowly merging into a sultry afro-jazz ballad peppered by African drums and those Carmen Souza vocals...