Maria de Barros

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"Falling for a new artist's sound can feel like falling in love...we're so smitten with Maria de Barros's sound....a sensuous blend of morna (a Cape Verdean–based blues) and coladeria (upbeat sambalike rhythms). Singing mostly in kriolu, a mixture of West African languages and Portuguese, De Barros loves that her music crosses language barriers." - Essence Magazine

Cape Verdean chanteuse Maria de Barros invites us into her culture's joyful musical tradition with a voice drenched with soul, sincerity and romanicism that goes straight to the heart. Now based in Los Angeles, De Barros is a native of Dakar, Senegal, and lived the first 13 years of her life in Nouackchott, Mauritania in northwest Africa, before relocating to New England. Her creative heart, however, lies in the culturally rich Cabo Verde, a former Portuguese colony located 350 miles off the coast of Senegal, the birthplace of her parents, as well as her godmother, the "barefoot diva" and queen of the mourna, Cesaria Evora, whose ongoing encouragement led to de Barros fashioning her own lively and vivacious interpretation of Cape Verdean music. Maria de Barros' Narada album DANÇA MA MI, (Dance With Me) is filled with stories of love and romance with musical styles ranging from salsa-flavored coladeiras and bluesy mornas common to her culture's music to another intoxicating rhythm, the funana.