Customer Reviews

A L'Olympia

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One can only voice regret at Ms. Evora's relatively late entry into the recording world, as all of her discs have a smoldering intensity and beauty that reveals a seemingly endless cache of ideas. Hence, this creates an insatiability in her fans for ever more recordings. Of all to date, A L'Olympia rewards the most--being the longest. An exemplary performance, and the songs! The shimmering "Reanima," a haunting "Papa Joachim Paris," two great versions of "Angola," and the finale "Sodade," are in need of no further explanation. Like most of her records, this is with traditional orchestration, unlike the odd "modern" production touches Ramiro Mendes added to much of her earlier "Destinho De Belita," presumably to introduce Evora to the French pop market.

We can only hope many more records flow forth from Cape Verde--the thought of a prolific sampling on the order of, say, Coltrane, is dizzying.

My head still rings from seeing her in Vilnius last night. It was an incredible treat having her come and sing to an audience she held in the palm of her hand. Cesaria has had a long and storied career, with her success coming too late for her to really enjoy. She had to be helped onto the stage, but the Barefoot Diva stood through out the performance, taking a short smoke break, as her young band treated the audience to a lively Salsa piece. She seemed visibly moved by the strong reaction of the audience, which showered her with flowers after a wonderful encore.

At 63, she keeps putting out the albums but this live performance remains the most magical of her albums in my collection. It moves between melancholy mornas and lively samba rhythms, without missing a step. So many favorites on this remarkable CD, but I particularly enjoy Papa Joachin Paris and Sodade. She gives the latter a heartfelt quality that speaks of the long road she has taken to become one of the leading voices in World Music. It is a lovely ballad, apparently derived from her Cabo Verde roots, but made famous in the 70's by Angolan superstar Bonga. Anyway, you will enjoy this CD from beginning to end. Seventy-two minutes of wonderful music that makes you really feel as though you were there at the Olympia.