Não Tente Compreender

Like Moreno Veloso, Preta Gil and Maria Rita, Mart'nália Mendonça Ferreira is the child of famous musical parents. Her mother is singer Anália Mendonça, her father Martinho da Vila, one of blue collar Rio's favourite sambistas. Like many children of the famous, Mart'nalia will forever be cursed with the inevitable comparisons to her parents that come with her privileged position. Such comparisons are rarely favourable. If she weren't Martinho da Vila's daughter it's hard to see how Mart'nalia would have succeeded in releasing records. She's a competent enough singer, with a warm, husky voice. And this is a competent enough CD. But there's little that is more than competent.

Mojito-smooth covers of standard MPB material, bossa nova re-workings and light sambas by her father, Lula Queiroga, Marisa Monte, Gilberto Gil and the like, make pleasant, smooth listening. You could slip this CD on in Starbucks or in a boutique hotel lobby anywhere and while sounding moderately sophisticated, it would neither offend nor interest anyone.