"I'm not a Cape Verdean singer, I'm a singer!" Mayra Andrade emphasizes on her own website. Which is to say: I am not a traditionalist and I draw from multiple musical sources. Andrade has now lived in Paris for a number of years. There she also got to know her backing band. She is at least as cosmopolitan as the singer herself: a Brazilian percussionist, a bassist from Cameroon and guitarist Kim
… Alves, just like Andrade, is from Cape Verde. Simply put, it produces a mixture of jazz, pop and rhythms from Africa and Brazil. But with that rough definition you are doing this subtle music too short. Fortunately, Andrade dares to walk off the beaten track. Take the violins in Odjus Fitchádo or the beautiful Tchápu Na Bandera where an African kora suddenly appears. Stória, Stória is an album rich in variety. Ideal ammunition for warm-blooded Dutch people who want to arm themselves musically against our sometimes chilly climate. (PdK)more
