Fernanda Porto

When Fernanda Porto first appeared on the Brazilian music scene with her eponymous debut album in 2002, she immediately gained the admiration of the critics with a fresh, elegant and intelligent electronic sound, based on drum'n'bass, bossa nova and traditional Brazilian rhythms. Her second album, Giramundo, was a step towards a much more organic sound and this live performance recorded at the Tom Brasil Nações Unidas in São Paulo in 2006 is a continuation on that more organic path. In fact, for this show Porto performed with a group of in total around 30 talented musicians, including a string quartet and the percussion group Batuntã, from São Paulo. The skillful pianist Christianne Neves plays a prominent role on this CD and also co-wrote the track "Seu Nome Na Areia," a calm and soft love song. This and ten other tracks are completely new material. Some of these were written by Porto herself, and others are versions of other artists' work. Among the covers, the beautiful "Desde Que o Samba É Samba" by Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso and "Samba de Dois" by Los Hermanos deserve extra attention. The presentation of Caetano Veloso's '70s classic "Sampa" is interesting, as Porto's arrangements are a stark contrast to Caetano's original, sparse choro settings. The smooth reggae of "Simples" is one of her new compositions, as is the calm "Você e Eu" with its tasteful string arrangements. "Pensamento 4," from Giramundo, gains a much lighter production than on the album, but maintains it "acoustic" drum'n'bass sound. ~ Philip Jandovsky, All Music Guide