Search - Cesaria Evora :: Nova Sintra

If you listen closely to the alternate take of the title track of this album, you can hear the pain, the beauty, and the ultimate complexity of the morna, the Cape Verde version of fado or blues, sung by one of its best-known and rightfully respected artists. Unfortunately the rest of the album is a mistaken attempt to fill out, fatten, and add schmaltz appeal to a music that needs no additives. These 1990 recordings feature production work by some highly respectable producers that would make the most ardent sweet tooth go straight to the dentist. Synthesized strings, cheesy drum machine riffs, and a plethora of unnecessary studio noodling have deprived this artist of all her movement and energy. What was the point of this adventure in lounge music? It's anyone's guess, but run, don't walk, to get a copy of Evora's brilliant Miss Perfumado instead, and hear the morna in all its earthy glory. --Louis Gibson