EUROPEAN MUSIC

PARIS is another cd which breaks stereotypes while seeming to reinforce them: say what? Well, after decades French young people are rebelling against the café music and show tunes which made French songs famous world-wide. Young French folks who grew up on rock, jazz, rap, etc. are embracing café music but bringing in different slants due to their different backgrounds: jazz, bossa nova, etc. The results? Great! A dying form saved from the museum is represented in 12 cuts from 12 different acts: all very good.

Warning: listening to PARIS could make you do something crazy like catching a plane to Paris. Meanwhile, as I write this, it’s snowing in Paris – so I’ll just push ‘repeat’ on the cd player: 12 songs, three times each so far – not bored yet: not with the diverse likes of Carla Bruni, Pascal Parisot, Karpatt and others to re-define the Paris café style.

The subtitle of ONDA SONORA, ‘RED HOT + LISBON’ is a bit misleading as much of the music here is not only not from Lisbon (the capital of Portugal) but not from Portugal at all. During the colonial era, Portugal held colonies around the world: most famously, Brazil. Much of the music on Onda Sonora is done with Brazilian artists in collaboration with non-Portuguese-speaking artists like David Byrne, K.D. Lang and Durotti Colomn. Of course, not every tune has a Brazilian connection – there’s Cape Verde, Angola and Portugal itself.

Most of the music on Onda Sonora is very pleasurable; some is rather surprising: for example, hearing former country singer K.D. Lang singing a Portuguese fado, or noticing how David Byrne teamed with Brazil’s Caetano Veloso sound: a bit like Paul McCartney with more interesting rhythm.

Some tunes on Onda Sonora are remixes for the dance floor with the modern electronics you’d expect; others are more traditional.

Overall it’s an interesting compilation offering insights into some of the foundations of Portugal and Brazilian flavors.

Sounding at times like a Euro/African version of Ricky Lee Jones, Sarah Tavares captures our ears and imagination with her title song ‘Balance’ – then switches styles as easily as she switches and combines languages: a mixture of Portuguese, English and French.

Sara is from Lisbon, Portugal but is of Cape Verdean descent. She’s traveled and studied all over the world and her music reflects this. She mixes in more African influences (particularly Angola, another Portuguese colony) than most Cape Verdean singers or songwriters.

Although like most of her contemporaries Brazilian music easily filters into her compositions, Sara Tavares lets it influence her own work rather than just singing Brazilian standards. She’s come to terms with the fact that she’s both African and European and has embraced them both as well as sounds from North and South America, the Caribbean, and beyond.

Sara Tavares just might be the greatest find yet of the Cape Verde/Portugal axis: BALANCE is a truly excellent debut.