Wonderland

Badi Assad | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 3, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000G6BJMQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243,669 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Wonderland is something like the musical equivalent of a photographic negative: an oddly inverted place which--as one might guess-–bears more than a passing resemblance to the world Alice visits in Lewis Carroll's masterpiece. Badi Assad's second release on edge/Deutsche Grammophon--a collection of her versions of other artists' compositions--brings new meaning to the term "cover," by concealing sobering political and social messages under alluring and often jubilant melodies. She addresses domestic violence with Asian Dub Foundation's "1000 Mirrors," transforms the cold shimmer of Tori Amos's "Black-Dove (January)" into a subdued meditation on rape, and movingly laments child prostitution on "O Mundo Ê Um Moinho" ("The World Is a Mill"). It is a testament to Assad's artistry, however, that Wonderland's most captivating piece is probably her collaboration with Chico César on "Zoar" ("Buzzing"), an atmospheric march through shadows and light that is by turns ominous and whimsical. And, of course, always hiding behind Assad's enchanting voice is her stellar guitar work, which shines in a beautiful interlude on the album-opening "Acredite Ou Não" ("Believe It or Not") and conjures the dark gravity of flamenco's Soleá on "Distantes Demais" ("Too Far Away"). So it seems likely that long-time aficionados will be eager to fall, like Alice, into Wonderland's rabbit hole--and new fans will find it a challenging work that rewards repeated listening. --Brent Kallmer

Product Description

World music favorite Badi Assad – a fascinating, modern Brazilian guitarist and vocalist – presents her second album WONDERLAND on edge.

Recorded in Rio de Janeiro, WONDERLAND features cover versions of songs by the Eurythmics ("Sweet Dreams"), Tori Amos ("Black Dove"), Asian Dub Foundation ("1000 Mirrors") as well as Badi’s own compositions. Other tracks include a duet with City of God singer/actor Seu Jorge, a song with Bobby McFerrin’s son Taylor McFerrin, and songs by Tom Jobim, Chico Buarque, and rising Brazilian star, Lenine.

According to Badi, WONDERLAND is a place of fantasy and dreams and a place where, apparently, everything makes sense, within the confines of impossibility. The songs presented on the album are reflections of this fantasy: apparently light, funny, and poetic, from a deeper point-of-view, they reveal distortions and human weaknesses.