CABO VERDE: Lura, I've come from far - M'bem di fora
Lura continues to hold true to the promise of her first album. This album follow closely the patterns of the first on. It does not grab your attention right from the get go. Au contraire it makes you want to stop listening. But hold on, once you hit track 6, the album comes alive and shines a new light on the artist.
After listening to it few times, you realize the artistic beauty and power of Lura. Her ability to change the tone and inflections of her voice makes this album a pure joy to listen to, once you get to the sparkling part of the album. Her voice blends perfectly with the mood of whatever song she is singing. She showed a remarkable musicianship on this album.
This album felt like a Cape Verde guided tour from Lura. She explored a large spectrum of Cape Verdean cmusical culture. Sometimes, the rythmics sounds and feel like Cesaria Evora's. Besides the funana she's been known for, there is also cola sanjon, Cape Verdean flavored mazurka and also coladera. For the outsider, there is the fast paced, almost calypso-like feel of "Mari D'ascenson", "Galanton" and "No bem fala", There are the slower-paced more Cesaria-like "Ponciana", "as agua" and "Pensa dret".
M'bem di fora is technically well balanced and the musicians involved with the recordings know their subject. Well established musicians like Guy N'sangue, Jose Paris both on bass, Jean Philippe Fanfan on drums, Regis Givazo on accordeon played on the album. There are also lesser known but equally talented young musicians like Kako on guitars, Miroca on Percussion and Totinho on saxophones. Producer Nando Andrade handled the production and arrangement of the album except for "Mari D'ascenson" and "Fitico Di Funana", which were arranged and produced by Toy Vieira.
M'bem di fora "I've come from far" is a solid album with great performances both by Lura and the musicians she worked with. There has been obvious efforts to make this album close to her first one. Those efforts succeded in someways but M'bem di fora ends up still with a sound and vibe that makes it different in more than one way and it's definitely worth having in one's collection.
Alain K. SESSI,
Africagrooves.com