MARIA DE BARROS "Danca Ma Mi/Dance With Me"Narada
Cesaria Evora is the international face of the Cape Verde Islands. But the "Barefoot Diva" with the mesmerizing voice is merely the tip of a vibrant musical scene on those 10 islands 350 miles off the west coast of Africa and in Cape Verdean immigrant communities around the world. Evora's goddaughter, Maria de Barros, personifies that diaspora. She was born in Senegal, raised in Mauritania and Rhode Island, and now resides in Los Angeles, but she has always taken her musical cues from Cape Verde, where her parents grew up.
Evora's records and concerts are dominated by the morna, the slow, bluesy song form, and her soulful melancholy was only occasionally alleviated by such Cape Verdean dance forms as the salsa-influenced coladeira. De Barros reverses the proportions on her new album, "Danca Ma Mi/Dance With Me." Most of the numbers are coladeiras, but the relaxed, reassuring vocals, the all-acoustic arrangements and the characteristic Cape Verdean lilt make songs such as string-band "Amor Luz" and the horn-backed "Bo Ke Nha Boy" less frantic and more comfortable than similar salsa numbers might be in Havana, San Juan or New York.
The funana, a dance form adapted from West Africa, emphasizes accordion and an iron scraper called a ferro; as a result, tunes such as "Pazinho Laxa" and "Sol Di Manha" sound more than a little like south Louisiana's zydeco. De Barros doesn't have Evora's overwhelming voice, but the goddaughter does know how to wring all the heartbreak and yearning out of a morna such as "Espaco Infinito."
-- Geoffrey Himes
Appearing Thursday at Voice of America. • To hear a free Sound Bite from Maria De Barros, call Post-Haste at 301-313-2200 and press 8104. (Prince William residents, call 703-690-4110.)
