Rodrigues Bahian musicrodrigues jazz hybrids

"Nos"

Virginia Rodrigues

The Bahian region of Brazil has sent the world some invaluable music, much of it expressed to the widest audience through artists who aren't native to the region. Virginia Rodrigues , though, is the quintessence of the region's aesthetic pricelessness.Rodrigues's Sol Negro won global accolades, and its follow-up, Nós, is an even more precious gem.She melds Bahian rhythmic aesthetics and a pop feel that ranges from evening-gown jazz hybrids to sheer displays of her broad-winged midrange vocalizations. Produced by Veloso, Nós opens with a song for the African deity Exú and invokes periodic ritual energies, swirling languidly through Virginia Rodrigues's vocals and finding refractions in the layers of pristine production beneath each song's surface. --Andrew Bartlett

Click on the CD Title--for Info and Music

Sol Negro

Nos

Rodrigues jazz "Sol Negro"

With her rich contralto voice dripping with operatic intonation, African Brazilian Virginia Rodrigues 12-song long Sol Negro has a fresh and delightfully idiosyncratic take on both new material and some standards from the Brazilian lexicon. With guests Gilberto Gil, Djavan, Milton Nascimento, and artistic director Caetano Veloso, you know the results can be nothing but classy. It is also magical as the sparse arrangements cool-school jazz arrangements, solitary harp, or bossa nova guitar set elegant backdrops for Rodrigues startling but gentle vocals. "Noite De Temporal," with her aria evoking voice set to skeletal berimbau and percussion, is as spine-tingling as it gets, while "Israfel" with solo harp accompaniment has all the emotion of the best Fado or Morna from Cape Verde. In between is a sophisticated range of material and musical disciplines that never strays from being totally Brazilian and utterly absorbing. --Derek Rath

 

      

forsta@altavista.com