Danca Ma Mi: Dance with Me

Along with Cesaria Evora and Lura, Maria de Barros represents the West African island nation of Cape Verde. Her new CD follows her debut recording, Nha Mundo. Like her musical sisters, she sings her native land's mournful morna, the festive funana/ferro, and peppery coladeira rhythms and song genres. But where Evora and Luna are more tradition-bound, De Barros can mix things up, as evidenced by her salsa-fied number "Bo Ke Nha Boy," the samba-like syncopations of "Sol Di Manha," and her hypnotic version of the French Caribbean classic, "Caresse Moi." Her voice has a light and airy ring to it, which sounds good in her native, Afro-Portuguese Criuolo language €“ and complements the, synths, horns, accordion, percussion, and the ukulele-like cavaquinho. All told, de Barros, like her contemporaries, is poised to take her country's music to the future, without, it is hoped, forgetting its past. --Eugene Holley, Jr.