Susana Baca, Eco De Sombras (Luaka Bop) 9+
A lot of praise has been thrown about regarding the resurgence of "divas" recently. Most of the singers have not quite grown into such statures that would deserve such a title. But the pres was half right. One merely needs to look beyond the increasingly irrelevant limits of nationality, culture and language. The World Music boom of the eighties got a bad rap partly because some artists were introduced to the world market who were not ready. Some were overproduced and sacrificed their distinction in trying to appeal to white Westerners, while others were recorded hurriedly resulting in the stiff sound of ethnomusicology recordings. Thankfully a handful of experienced labels have learned to handle artists as individuals and cultivate their talents. The result was a late 90s renaissance of classic albums, and the emergence of three women in particular who reign supreme. Susana Baca was introduced to the world outside of her native Peru by David Byrne's 1995 Luaka Bop compilation The Soul of Black Peru. Her first album for that label was a lovely folky summarization of Baca's unique take on Afro-Peruvian music. Her second and latest album, Eco de Sombras (Echo of Shadows) continues to explore the ancient rhythms of lando, alcatraz and samba, but this time with a more edgy contemporary sound. Producer Craig Street (Cassandra Wilson, Paula Cole) came on board, bringing with him hip downtown New York musicians, including Tom Waits/John Zorn bassist Greg Cohen, keyboard jazzbo John Medeski, and fresh from Los Cubanos Postizos, former Tom Waits guitarist Marc Ribot to supplement Baca's regular band. Despite their intimidating avant-garde credentials, the band's playing is sufficiently understated not to steal Baca's limelight. She adopts lyrics from several songwriters and poets, taking the possession of the themes of tortured love ("De Los Amores"), violent love ("Valentín"), romantic love ("Poema"), sensual love ("Los Amantes," "La Macorina"), slavery ("El Mayoral"), freedom ("Golpe E' Tierra") and more love ("Reina Mortal"). Baca may be in her 40s, but her voice has a timeless beauty that sounds eternally youthful, with the seductiveness to go with it -- "We the lovers/ Above us, rain and love/ Ceaseless rain/ unceasing love/ Above us, the rain, like love/ moistens the lovers." Everything is sung in Spanish, and even if you don't understand the words, Susana Baca's passion is unceasing, and soon you will love her as much as everyone who has heard her siren.
