Miss Perfumado

Performer: Césaria Évora
Engineer: Stephane Caisson
Producer: Jose Da Silva
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Cesaria Evora (vocals); Toy Vieira (vocals, acoustic guitar, cavaquinho, piano); Paulino Vieira (acoustic guitar, cavaquinho, piano, harmonica, percussion, background vocals); Malaquias Costa (violin, percussion); Escabes (reco-reco); Titina, Celina Peireira, Gardenia Benros, Teofile Chantre, Som di Longe (background vocals). Recorded at Studio de la Madeleine and Studio Music' Ange, Paris, France between May and June 1992. Includes liner notes by Anastasia Tsioulcas. MISS PERFUMADO was nominated for a 1999 Grammy for Best World Music Album. Ravishing is the word that springs to the lips: one of those tiresome British understatements, but it'll have to do. Evora has the most glorious voice, the melodies are heartrendingly Portuguese, the guitar-runs have escaped from a fado recording. The classic piano and string group of Miss Perfumada help explain its near-bestselling status, the near-Brazilian rhythms add the zip that tops the whole thing off. ~ John Storm Roberts, Original Music This 1992 recording, which is being released in the US for the first time, established this 57-year-old singer from the Portuguese West African island of Cabo Verde as an international star. Not quite a traditionalist, Cesaria Evora specializes in the Portuguese folk/cabaret ballad called Morna, a moderately paced, highly expressive song-form characterized by meandering minor-key melodies and lyrics which express suffering, hope, and, above all, the all-encompassing Portuguese concept of "saudade," or nostalgia. As listeners on the Continent have already discovered, MISS PERFUMADO is a perfect introduction to this dignified artist. To be sure, not every song is slow to mid-tempo; there are some lively numbers, though Ms. Evora never loses her poise or even raises her appealingly musky voice. Credit also goes to guitarist/pianist Paulinho Vieira, who directs the sympathetic acoustic accompaniment, so evocative of the sea and warm nights of Evora's beloved Cabo Verde.

Mojo (Publisher) (9/02, p.114) - "...practically perfect."

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