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CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

Mixed music from Africa, Brasil & Spain aport in the Island

I spent two hours on Thursday trying to renew my internet security subscription. But picking up my hair from the floor (I must have tugged most of it out earlier), my spirits began to raise, as some completely divine notes started fl oating out of the stereo.

Mayra Andrade is an angel. The magic of the iPod shuffl e brought back her 2006 debut album Navega (‘Upon the waves’) to my weary eardrums. She was working out of Paris when she recorded it, and collaborating with Brasilian percussionist Ze Luis Nascimento, amongst others.

It’s hard to describe her swooning, otherworldly sland sound. You can certainly hear Brasil, and in many an interview she's described herself as “an unconditional fan” of Caetano Veloso.

But apart from one of the songs, the whole album is sung in Cape Verdean Creole. She’s very proud of her African roots, and she treats you to a pretty unique tri-continental fusion, rich in historic rhythms, and on March 16th her shoeless feet will touch these shores when she performs at the Barbican.
Two nights earlier, there’ll be another soulstress caressing the London stage. Concha Buika is just as international – Guinean- Spanish – and her mĂ©lange of flamenco, gypsy, funk, jazz and soul is no less exotic.

Make that weekend one to stick in your diary. void trying to solve your internet problems over the phone with someone in another country; you’d be better off listening to some beautiful acoustic music from the other side of the world.JD

Words: Guy Bingley