No Rastro de Catarina

Cátia de França is a singer and songwriter from João Pessoa, Paraíba, a city in the northwest of Brazil, which has produced many incredible musicians. Due to the economic disadvantage of the northwestern states, many musicians travelled to Rio de Janeiro or even further south to São Paulo to make their name, a route followed by Cátia. Celebrating 55 years of her career, on No Rastro da Catarina (On Catarina’s Trail) Cátia recounts this story, with the autobiographical ‘Fênix’ (Phoenix) setting the big-band, boisterous tone for an album which reinforces her experimentalism straight from the first track. ‘Malakuyawa’ is a particular favourite, which sports electric guitars that to the Songlines reader’s ear might suggest West African pop styles, but are heavily relevant to the Alagoan (two states down from Paraíba) sound. These are paired with echoing production and horn lines over a lilting ijexá (a rhythm stemming from the Candomblé religion).