Search - Julia Sarr, Patrice Larose :: Set Luna

A collaboration between a Senegalese-French chanteuse and a Spanish-French guitarist may seem unlikely at face value, but the two actually have quite a bit in common. Both traditions share North African roots -- Senegal through its centuries-old link with Islam and Spain via an indelible Moorish tinge that still permeates the nation's culture despite the medieval re-conquest of Granada. Patrice Larose's playing is neat-fingered and unassuming yet rhythmically unfettered, his round-toned, slightly buzzy acoustic guitar makes quicksilver runs between melodic contexts, time-signatures and ports of call. Julia Sarr's silky vocals, while true to her ancestry, are hard to pigeon-hole; she is obviously an open-eared world citizen whose musical vocabulary reflects a life-long immersion in everything from R&B ballads to West African praise-singing. The duo hardly breaks a sweat while shifting between Brazilian bossa nova, French chanson, Spanish flamenco and the mbalax invented by Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour, who sits in on the title track and was the force behind their 2005 Carnegie Hall debut. The album is relaxed and lushly beautiful -- one of those rare must-haves that will never disappoint or grow stale. --Christina Roden