Cloves and mint?*

A glimpse up my back passage.

The promised sunshine never really materialised on this "non-Pride" weekend - it was very intermittent indeed yesterday, and grey and gloomy today - but regardless we were still out there doing some more pottering in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers...

Our thoughts and dreams in such circumstances inevitably turn to exotic music in far-off climes, and fortuitously - thanks, believe it or not, to BBC Radio 3 (primarily the home of classical music on the Beeb) - I have a fab new discovery to share with you, dear reader!

Ayom (for it is they) describe themselves as "a multicultural band, made up of six members from Angola, Brazil, Greece and Italy with Brazilian singer and percussionist Jabu Morales centre stage", and they're fab...

Ayom - Me deixe ser

Ayom - Cravo e menta

Holidays.

Sigh.

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[*Cravo e menta = "cloves and mint" in Portuguese.]

Barefoot diva

RIP Cesária Évora, the Cape Verdian "barefoot diva" who died yesterday aged 70.

Senhora Évora was not a lady with whose work I was particularly familiar I have to admit, but she had a beautifully smoky voice and encapsulated a certain spirit of the Portuguese-African musical blend - and it is always sad to lose another classy diva...

As a tribute, here's a fab remix of her Sangue de Beirona by none other than that great maestro of house music, DJ François Kevorkian:

Cesária Évora - Sangue De Beirona (Main Pass by Francois K.)

Cesária Évora obituary on the BBC

Uma bela voz

On first hearing Boy George's new single Amazing Grace, my very first thought was "who's that girl singer"? So I decided to investigate...

The very lovely Ana Lains is a sensation in her native Portugal. With her crystal-clear vocals she has mastered that most traditional of musical styles Fado with a style and grace all her own. She has won many awards for her music, and celebrates ten years in the recording industry with a new album Quatro Caminhos, released this year and available on Amazon.

Here is Miss Lains with the first (eponymous) single from that album, an exquisite number...

Ana Lains - Quatro Caminhos

Here she is singing her lovely tango-tinged mega-hit Pouco Tempo:

Ana Lains - Pouco Tempo

And here is the lovely lady providing magnificent vocals for Boy George on that single...

Boy George - Amazing Grace

http://www.myspace.com/analains