La Dôtu Lado

Right from the melancholic opening chords of a pair of acoustic guitars, you know you're in for a treat. Coladera are a Lusophone trio hailing from Brazil, Portugal and Cape Verde, who take their name from a traditional musical form. As the Brazilian-born singer-guitarist Vitor Santana explains, ‘in Brazil there is a lot of DNA from Cape Verde. You can find this DNA in many rhythms. One of them is coladeira. It's a little bit samba, a little bit Bahia. Cape Verde is in the middle.’

And so you'll find elements that derive from Santana's grounding in bossa nova (on, say, ‘Primer Letra’), that of singer-guitarist João Pires' roots in fado and flamenco (‘A Luz de Yayá’) and that of percussionist Miroca Paris' native Cape Verdean rhythms (notably on ‘Funaná do Moreré’). The rhythmic pulse, reinforced by guest percussionist Marcos Suzano, a renowned master of the Brazilian tambourine-like pandeiro, leavens the seductively mournful vocals associated with the Cape Verdean islands' prominent role in the Portuguese slave trade between West Africa and north-east Brazil. Such tragic roots gave birth to this swaying, swinging music. A lyrical and entrancing album.