Latest CD releases reviewed

SUSANA BACA
The Best of Susana Baca Luaka Bop
****
This is sweet indeed, a smoky soft breeze of a voice swaying over gentle criss-crossing rhythms. Susana Baca is the voice of black Peru, a culture apparently much marginalised in her native country. Like the son style in Cuba, her music is a time-softened blend of subtle African rhythms and Spanish melody that tugs on your heart when it is not inviting you to dance. This 12-track collection includes gorgeous hip-shakers such as Zamba Malato and the dance remix of the beautiful ballad La Noche Y El Dia, as well as seductive ballads of the quality of Mario Lando and De Los Amores. The arrangements exploit the dramatic contrast between Baca's voice and those of her tasteful band in a series of call-and-response techniques, and, while the music may be soft, some of the Spanish lyrics have real edge.  www.luakabop.com
Joe Breen

DAYNA KURTZ
Beautiful Yesterday Munich Records
***
New Jersey singer-songwriter Dayna Kurtz discards the songwriter tag for the most part on her second studio album; just three of the 13 tracks are her own. Her covers are a mixed cabaret of the obscure and the familiar, all subjected to her distinctive, sometimes overly intense, interpretation - mostly a moody, big voice set in a late-night blue mood. In the case of Prince's Joy In Repetition it works well, while Leonard Cohen's wonderfully cynical Everybody Knows is such a great song that it would be an achievement to screw it up. Kurtz's touch deserts her for a disposable Those Were the Days, and Ester Bulint's Amsterdam Crown is a little embarrassed in this august company, but friend Norah Jones helps leave a good taste by singing a memorable duet on Ellington's I Got It Bad. 
www.daynakurtz.com
Joe Breen

ZAR
Tuskind Tankar Tame
***
Since we're not exactly tripping over Danish folk music round these here parts, Zar, and their female lead singer, Sine Lauritsen (awarded Best Folk Singer at this year's Danish Music Awards) present a scrubbed face and shining hair snapshot of what's hot in their home place. Tusind Tanker (or A Thousand Thoughts) is driven by a freewheeling fiddle, stately cello, and jousting guitar and double bass, and a pairing of mandolin/bouzouki that serves as a timely counterpoint to the Lunny/Irvine axis we've come to love all over again this year. Lauritsen's voice is a smoky, lived-in tent that accommodates the rich orchestration effortlessly. Traditional and original tunes sit easily alongside one another, striking betimes a Romany and at others a decidely baroque chord.
www.zarmusic.dk
Siobhán Long