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Latin Female Singers - Any suggestions?

I have always wanted to expand my listening repertoire beyond the traditional jazz ballads/balladeers. It seems as I discover new singers in the idiom I keep hearing many of the same traditional ballads being redone in much the same way. This is great to a point but a little spice of the Latin variety sure wouldn’t hurt. In that regards, I've done a little research and discovered Yasmin Levy (Landino, flamenco). Her album, Sentir blows me away. The recording quality is quite good too. I also like Brazilian Ceu (samba, reggae, jazz) on her self-titled album. Ojos de Bruja are also doing interesting stuff. None of these can be called jazz in the traditional sense but good nonetheless.

Concha Buika's collaboration with Chucho Valdes is another great find. Fantastic synergy between Concha and Chucho here, with very good sound quality as well. Others I have manage to sought out so far are Mexican singers Lhasa, Lila Downs,Chavela Vargas and Argentinian Mercedes Souza.

I'd be interested to hear of any others, along these lines, that you might be aware of.
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donjr
1,311 posts
 
I'm a Brazilian fanatic. Frogman is correct that Ellis Regina is the best of the best. Check her out with Antonio Carlos Jobim called Ellis & Tom. It doesn't get any better.

Check out Bebel Gilberto. She's the daughter of Joao Gilberto who basically invented Bossa Nova.

If you want to hear something very special, Ellis Regina's daughter Maria Rita is nothing short of stunning. Check out her latest ELO. I'm positive without having any idea that she won a Latin Grammy for ELO.

I don't have much time to post right now but I can elaborate soon. I could go on forever about Brazilian music. It's my personal preference for Latin music. The history is amazing and the music is as influential as any other form of music from anywhere at any time in history.
rx8man's avatar
rx8man
1,355 posts
 
Eliane Elias "A Long Story" is a great album!

It's a shame Elis Regina passed at such a very young 36 years in 1982.
orpheus10
5,988 posts
 

"Salome De Bahia" is out of sight, so is Susana Baca, she's from Peru. Silvia Gomez, Nazare Pereira, Clara Nunes, Beth Carvalho, Fortuna, and Claudia Gomez, are all Latin singers.

Enjoy the music.
frogman
4,637 posts
 
A few thoughts on the Buena Vista sound. If one uses as criteria two of Jazz's essential ingredients, improvisation and roots in African music, it is clearly "jazz"' as Rok points out. But the music heard on most of BVSC's recordings is actually closer to the "guajira" and "son" styles; the "country-music" of Cuba. The repetitive vocal style is the influence of the chants of the music that the West African slaves brought to the mix. It predates the Cubano-bop that came a decade or two later.
frogman
4,637 posts
 
Oops, wrong thread. Sorry, guys/gals.
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