Noite de Morabeza

Noite de Morabeza is the follow-up album to Lagoa. It has the same pared-down acoustic sound minus the synth-keyboards and drum machines. Boy Ge Mendes has employed some of the finest musicians from Cape Verde and the French Antilles. From the French Antilles, there is Mario Canonge whose piano solos infuse the album with clean melodic and rhythmic lines. Bago, also from Martinique, pumps out a continual flow of just-below-the-boil percussion. Thierry Fanfant, another French Antillean, weaves solid basslines on five tracks. The first three tracks are mellow but rhythmic. Funana di Nha Bonga begins in a similar jazzy vein and then bridges to a funana, a Cape Verdean dance rhythm, that gathers steam punctuated by booming basslines. The title cut transitions from a ballad-like tempo into a picante cha cha that stands up to the best of the Cuban charangas. Boy Ge Mendes has forged a unique acoustic sound for himself on these two albums. His vocals have that languid tropical humidity and the instrumental/percussion backup percolates with an intensity that dovetails perfectly. Noite de Morabeza is another finely crafted work that surprises both with its melodic depth and percussive swing.