Cape Verde music reviews

Bau was in Cesaria Evora's group, and the
general sound of her band is retained here.
I find his mellow "with fire" string-driven music to be
beautiful. It is completely instrumental
and influenced by Latin, Portugese and
Brasilian sounds. He primarily plays
cavaquinho (a steel-stringed ukelele) and
guitar. Other instruments include sax, bass
and percussion. (On his other CDs Bau plays
violin, but the intonation and tone is hard
to listen to.) Unique and highly recommended!

The CD Intelectual is one of Mr. Lobo's best work in my opinion.
He had the right voice for the melodious "morna" e for "coladera".Mr. Lobo has other excelente work, solo and with his old group "Os tubaroes", however Intelectual has the right misture of songs that are politicly charged and pleasant to listen to.
With his untimely death on 10/20/04 he left a big gap in the Capeverdean Music world that will not be easy to close.

Ildo Lobo was a major figure in Cape Verdean music, known for both his solo albums and his long career with the group Os Tubaroes. This is his last album, released posthumously. I found the experience of listening to it frustrating. Ildo Lobo uses his wonderfully expressive voice on a variety of material that ranges from haunting (the first song is especially powerful and I can't get enough of it) to banal and even syrupy. Aficionados of Cape Verdean music should probably have this in their collections but others might try to get songs 1, 2 and 5 (Nha Fidjo Matcho, Alto Cutelo, Parodia Familiar) separately and forget the rest.