The seventh album from the Brasilian pop phenomenon daughter of a director of the Portela school of samba concentrates on just that: Sambas! The first instrument she played was the drums, but her rise to stardom is built on her intricate vocals and songwriting talents. (She also happens to be a quite competent on guitar and in a studio production booth).

2008-02-23 -- 5/5:: If you like bossa nova, you'll probably like this album
Marisa Monte has an amazingly beautiful voice, one that's perfect to listen to while you're lounging w/ a glass of wine, with a nice, warm breeze in the air. You can listen straight through this album, and for those bossa nova fans out there, you'll probably like this...it's a must-buy.

2007-05-12 -- 5/5:: Um dos melhores
A musica Brasileira e demais!!!!! I love it!!!! It has lots of songs that i love. it was a great choice.

2007-03-22 -- 5/5:: her best!
Con: track 8 is a nightmare :-(
Pro: track 8 only lasts 1:13........and the rest of the album is fantastic! ;-)

2007-02-23 -- 5/5:: Wonderful!
This album is beautiful (except track 8). My favorite Brazilian music CD of all time.

2007-01-15 -- 4/5:: Beautiful Effort -- Failed Concept
Marisa Monte is the biggest star of Brazilian music on the international scene. With Gilberto Gil elevated to cultural minister of the country (gov. ministers don't really release groundbreaking music anymore) and Milton Nascimento mushing out over the recent years, she gets the crown.

And she deserves it. This is a gorgeous CD. Beautifully sung, beautifully arranged, this is mesmerizing music created by musicians who want to break out of the musical categories of MPB today.

But if this is a CD to resurrect the old samba style --and I am assuming that it is from its promotion -- then it falls on the sword of its pretensions. And dies. But before, it does gasp out some good music.

That is why it gets 4 stars. Marisa Monte is so good that even when she does deliver the goods, she gets 4 stars.

If you know Marisa, I would say buy this! But if you don't have any CDs by Marisa Monte, buy some earlier ones. This CD is not an introduction.

The first track is a newly composed work by Marisa and Carlinhos Brown. They open with an old radio off-air transmission and then Marisa sings so beautifully and seductively.

but the second track sounds a lot like the first, and easly treads the same melodic trough. And so on and on. Barely one-third of the tracks are really old songs. The rest is recomposed. It sounds like Marisa, Carlinhos Brown and crew are coasting on the backs of the great old samba guys.

But wait. There are some real gems. The third track, Meu Canario, by Jayme Silva from 1950, is a minor masterpiece and my favorite. It's beautiful and a perfect example of the sad samba sounding upbeat -- it just speaks the soul of Brazilian samba. And Brazilian music and the Brazilian soul. (Perdoa, meu amor, perdoa, is the oldest piece of music on the CD (1945) and these two tracks would easily make this a CD to own.)

I wished Marisa had performed this song with Jayme Silva. Where is he? This CD is supposed to be about lost music. He might be dead now. That makes sense. OK, but where are the liner notes about these great old, lost composers of samba? Nada. It's just sort of thrown out there.

But at least this booklet has English translations of all the Brazilian lyics. A good sign.

Paulinho da Viola has composed and performed a track here. Interesting and another reason to own this CD. Da Viola was the first musician to go back into the old samba schools and save this music. Marisa Monte followed his example with an album in 1999. Marisa sang with the old guard (velha guarda da Portela) to fantastic effect. Unfortunately this album was never released in the USA.

I was hoping that this CD would be her expansion on that work for a wider audience. But it is not. It has beautiful spots. Overall, though, this sounds like a vanity project.