Music from the Chocolate Lands

Putumayo Presents | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 9, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Putumayo World Music
• ASIN: B00061NTNI
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,391 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Lisanga - Lokua, Toto Bona

2. Sarasa (India) - Susheela Raman

3. Sabia - Marcantonio

4. Rasanble (Haiti) - Beethova Obas

5. Aqui No Sera (Mexico/USA) - Ozomatli

6. Paleto (Belgium/Brazil) - Think Of One

7. Kakou - Dobet Gnahore

8. Yay Balma - Taffetas

9. Tihore Mai Te Rangi (Hawaii) - Teresa Bright

10. Baba - Andy Palacio, Adrian Martinez

11. Valentin (Peru) - Susana Baca

12. Chocolate Sabroso - Chocolate Armenteros

Editorial Reviews

Music from the Chocolate Lands offers a rich selection of songs from the world’s chocolate producing countries. Chocolate has been enjoyed for thousands of years. Used for medicinal and religious purposes, as well as for pleasure, traces of this "food of the gods" have been found in early Mayan pots dating back to 600 B.C.E. Europeans added sugar to the exotic concoction, and the chocolate craze gradually spread throughout the world. Now the cacao plant, which provides the raw cocoa beans for chocolate, is farmed in tropical locations around the globe, often far away from its Central and South American origins.

Music from the Chocolate Lands features a selection of songs as distinctive as chocolate’s history. This release includes music from the tropical countries that grow cocoa beans as well as collaborations with musicians from the European regions where chocolate-makers produce some of the world’s most appetizing chocolate products. Africa, the world’s leading producer of cocoa beans, is represented by Dobet Gnahoré from the Ivory Coast and Toto Bona Lokua, a trio featuring artists from Congo, Cameroon and the French Caribbean island of Martinique. Also from the Caribbean are Haiti’s Beethova Obas, with "Rasanblé," and the masterful Cuban trumpet player Chocolate Armenteros, whose song "Chocolate Sabroso" (Tasty Chocolate) is a perfect fit. Adrian Martínez and Andy Palacio, from the Central American country of Belize, provide a previously unreleased track. The collection also features songs by Ozomatli (USA/Mexico), Susana Baca (Peru), Marcantonio (Brazil), Susheela Raman (India) and Teresa Bright (Hawaii). The Belgian group Think of One teams up with Brazilian musicians to create a track that unites two important chocolate producing countries. Taffetas provides another truly unique collaboration, bringing together musicians from the West African country of Guinea Bissau and Switzerland, the land where milk chocolate was invented.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light and breezy, April 20, 2005

By 

J. TIMMERMAN (Lawson, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Music from the Chocolate Lands (Audio CD)

Music from chocolate-producing countries like the Congo, India, Brazil, Haiti, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Hawaii, Belize, Peru and Cuba. This album as a whole is light, happy, soft and warm, with lilting rhythms and attractive vocals from artists completely unknown to me, nope not a single one. But hey, they're great so don't let not knowing the bands put you off! Each track is a beautifully-produced gem in its own right. The album opens with a bouncy number from Toto Bona Lokua, three guys from the Congo, Cameroon and Martinique with a catchy French Caribbean sound, great voices and their very own made-up language! Then a languid ballad from Indian Susheela Raman, a breezy folksy song from Brazilian Marcantonio, a jazzy hip-swayer from Haitian Beetova Obas, a club dance number aptly titled "Chocolate Sabroso" from Cuba's Chocolate Armenteros, and so the fun continues.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great if you like and appreciate different world music, September 26, 2005

By 

Muffin-man (West Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Music from the Chocolate Lands (Audio CD)

This album, along with music CDs from the same company such as the coffee lands (Vols. I and II), and tea lands, are great to play outdoors on those lazy summer evenings when you are have a barbecue (particularly some BBQ dish from an exotic country) having cold drinks with a group of friends, and being under the soft backyard party lights.. . It is excellent background music.
I played it last summer while doing a BBQ from a South Pacific cookbook, and everyone was asking about both the dish and the music. Everyone loved them.

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!, May 20, 2010

By 

n2drama "n2drama" (Midwest) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Music from the Chocolate Lands (Audio CD)

Love this product and the seller is super to work with. We'll do more business in the future!