Brazil: Sambossica 3

There is so much exciting music coming out of Brazil right now. However you wouldn’t think so from Sambossica 3. This 12-track compilation apparently digs deep into the roots of heavy sambas and bossa nova grooves. My two-year-old daughter has dug deeper on Copacabana beach with a bucket and spade. I can’t say I have heard of any of the artists, which ought to be a good thing. But there is no information on any of the artists: the album chooses rather to focus on the compiler, DJ Seduce. That’s a shame, as a little internet research reveals that one of the more accomplished singers here, Euterpe, has an interesting history, having started her career aged 11 in an Amazonian choral group.

To be fair, if you heard the CD in a bar club you might find it fairly appealing as background music. There are even a couple of really good tracks, such as ‘Macumba de Sogra’, a catchy botequim- style samba by Ana Paula da Silva. And most of the tracks are fairly well produced – they just sound as though they were made in the 90s. That’s the crux of the problem: the whole project is a bit passé and hackneyed, offering little of the current vibrancy to be encountered on the Brazilian music scene.