|
|
|
|
|||
chieko kinbara - a espera It's a bit hard just to know where to slot Japanese songstress/violinist Chieko Kinbara whose debut album A Espera has been released under the appropriately monickered Disorient label. Formerly a classically trained musician with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra she broke away from musical academia to develop a clubby internationalised style that fuses elements of latin, Brazilian and worldbeat with the contemporary ambience of heart-beat thump, electric piano fills and soft jazzy or latin guitar. The first title track A Espera is where the disorient comes in as vocalist Liliana Chachain, vocalist from Da Lata, Negrocan and Arakatuba adds her Brazilian tones to the stately theme which Chieko echoes with rich, minimalist violin tones. Liliana also sings on O Sorriso Da Vida following a similar path but this time with cuica-dotted samba/bossa beats and also on a reprise of A Espera at the end, a remix that adds 55% extra biff. Throughout the CD Chieko's vocals are restricted to fairly standard Brazilian flavoured wordless chanting. It's probably hard-hearted to criticise her classically adept yet fairly standard rendition of the beautiful French chanson La Vie En Rose and Spanish Blues is an enjoyable reggae-beated dub-tinged interplay between accordion, Spanish guitar and a violin that once again proves that Chieko did what her music teacher expected of her, but the whole work, while quite varied, feels like a mellifluous conglomeration of fairly obvious sources. However it does fulfil its brief touted in the advertising blurb of providing a "dreamy summer landscape", so it's over to you then.
|
|
|
