Midnight Alvorada

Swedish label ajabu! must have a good network of scouts. Pedro Rosa is their latest Brazilian discovery, following the likes of Tiganá Santana, Ian Lasserre and Irma Ferreira. Born in São Paulo and currently in Barcelona, Rosa co-composed eight of the ten songs here with collaborator Rafael Mourão and enlisted fellow expats such as Zé Luis Nascimento to provide delicate accompaniment. The album opens with a beautiful meditative dialogue between Rosa's acoustic guitar and Davide Bora's soprano sax. ‘Samba de Um Balaio’ and ‘Na Rota do Umbuzeiro’ are delicate, bare-boned conversations between voice and guitar. Towards the end of ‘Como Vai Você’, the interjection of a bansuri flute is startling in such a subtle context. The wordless, flute-atious ‘Curió’ feels buoyant enough to be tailor-made for Joyce Moreno. Mônica Salmaso duets with Rosa on ‘Sara’, the only number with a string accompaniment. ‘It was her voice that I heard in my head and not mine,’ its composer reveals. Such sensitivity is the keynote to Pedro Rosa's distinguished debut. Don't expect fireworks or startling originality, just ten songs that exude class, authenticity and heartfelt sincerity.