Sa.Li.Va

After resettling to Barcelona in 2011, Brazilian singer and percussionist Jabu Morales joined Italian accordionist Alberto Becucci in a band they would name after her Candomblé roots. Soon after, Ayom's debut self-titled album proved a solid record, with Afro-Brazilian rhythms providing the backbone to their music. For their second album, Ayom have now chosen to pursue the crossroads between several Lusophone styles: they stick to the same Afro-Brazilian basis, but that is now met with Brazilian frevo, Cape Verdean coladeira and funaná, and Angolan kizomba, while singers Paulo Flores and Salvador Sobral show up to give them a hand. Cleverly produced by Guilherme Kastrup (the man behind Elza Soares’ A Mulher do Fim do Mundo), Sa.Li.Va is an uncomplicated dialogue between these different musical geographies, embracing both straight-forward tracks like the samba-triggered ‘Eu Me Quero Mais (feat Juliana Linhares)’ and the subtle mixture between Candomblé, tango and classical with either a dreamy string arrangement as on ‘Oxalá, Promessa do Migrante’ or an experimental leaning on ‘Ode a Oxum’. With a little help from Kastrup, Ayom excel at navigating through different local traditions, as if they are claiming global citizenship and presenting their irrefutable case.