Eco de Sombras (Echo of Shadows)

In her Spanish-language songs about love, heritage, and slavery days, Susana Baca elevates the nearly extinct Afro-Peruvian blues--its sambas, landos, and alcatraz rhythms--to high art. Like Bahia diva Virginia Rodrigues or Cape Verde morna singer Cesaria Evora, Baca is part of a new generation of international female vocalists who take an almost chamber-music approach to their respective styles. On this album, that means augmenting her usual band with such musical guests as keyboardist John Medeski (of Medeski Martin & Wood) and electric guitarist Marc Ribot (Los Cubanos Postizos), who add almost imperceptible instrumental shimmers to her band's understated yet undeniably robust (and often Cuban-flavored) grooves. Like the blues, Baca's resonant lamentations, sung in a voice reminiscent of antique bamboo, transcend sadness with deeper and subtler emotional flavors. --Richard Gehr