Ora Doce Ora Margos Elida Almeida

At the age of 27, Elida Almeida already stands out, with her honeyed smile and solar energy, as youthful as she is mature, as the muse of Cape Verde's new musical generation. She deploys this status like a banner and inscribes it on the front of her new album, entitled Gerasonobu ('New Generation' in Cape Verdean Creole). Together with other fellow musicians, the young woman, whose roots lie on the island of Santiago, is helping to explode the codes of Cape Verdean music: a tradition illuminated by the guardian figure of Cesaria Evora, jealously watched over by so-called 'experts', who grumble as soon as one takes a (dance) step outside the norm. But Elida is not satisfied: 'Even Cesaria's creations are different from 'traditional' pieces.

At the age of 27, Elida Almeida already stands out, with her honeyed smile and solar energy, as youthful as she is mature, as the muse of Cape Verde's new musical generation. She deploys this status like a banner and inscribes it on the front of her new album, entitled Gerasonobu ('New Generation' in Cape Verdean Creole). Together with other fellow musicians, the young woman, whose roots lie on the island of Santiago, is helping to explode the codes of Cape Verdean music: a tradition illuminated by the guardian figure of Cesaria Evora, jealously watched over by so-called 'experts', who grumble as soon as one takes a (dance) step outside the norm. But Elida is not satisfied: 'Even Cesaria's creations are different from 'traditional' pieces.

Little is known about the life of Francisco António de Almeida, but he occupied a central position in Portuguese life in the first half of the 18th century and was able to learn the Italian style in Rome thanks to the ambitions of King João V. The rarely recorded La Spinalba ovvero Il vecchio matto (Spinalba, or the Mad Old Man) is a comic opera which follows the buffa tradition of intrigue and romantic complexities, and is filled with superb cantabile arias as well as a rich variety of original and dramatic orchestral effects. The cast is led by Ana Quintans, a much-in-demand soloist on the early music scene, and the highly regarded Portuguese ensemble Os Músicos do Tejo is directed by its co-founder Marcos Magalhães.

Fernando Lopes-Graça was one of the greatest Portuguese composers of the 20th century. He composed songs in many genres, including folk-song arrangements, modernist settings of Portuguese poetry, and songs connected to political and historical events, all of which are represented here in this second volume (Volume 1 is on 8.579039). Early songs reveal the harmonic influence of Debussy, while Lopes-Graça’s utopian vision of international fraternity can be heard in his harmonisations of Greek, Czech and Slovak songs, which range from lament and defiance to pastoral sentiment.

Released in 1964, the aptly titled Softly, the Brazilian Sound was Joanie Sommers' seventh long-player for Warner Bros. in under five years. She had been marketed as a torch balladeer to popular jazz and Great American Songbook enthusiasts, as well as a teenybopper to a considerably younger audience. Sommers joins forces with Laurindo Almeida (guitarist/arranger) in a move that predates Frank Sinatra's collaborative efforts with Antonio Carlos Jobim by several years. In actuality, the so-called "bossa nova" movement was one of the only trends to have any effect on the American pop scene during the mid-'60s - particularly when going up against British Invasion bands. And it's little wonder that Jobim's name crops up throughout the effort, as he co-penned a couple of tunes - including the sultry opener, "Meditation" (Meditacao)…

Released in 1964, the aptly titled Softly, the Brazilian Sound was Joanie Sommers' seventh long-player for Warner Bros. in under five years. She had been marketed as a torch balladeer to popular jazz and Great American Songbook enthusiasts, as well as a teenybopper to a considerably younger audience. Sommers joins forces with Laurindo Almeida (guitarist/arranger) in a move that predates Frank Sinatra's collaborative efforts with Antonio Carlos Jobim by several years. In actuality, the so-called "bossa nova" movement was one of the only trends to have any effect on the American pop scene during the mid-'60s - particularly when going up against British Invasion bands. And it's little wonder that Jobim's name crops up throughout the effort, as he co-penned a couple of tunes - including the sultry opener, "Meditation" (Meditacao)…