From contemporary Brazil comes CéU, with an album blending force and grace. Her roots are in samba, which “sticks to the soles of her feet”. But she covers many other musical territories too, from soul to afrobeat and electrojazz. With a rare maturity and finesse, she has taken a rich and eclectic musical culture and made it all her own.It sometimes happens that a new artist appears on the scene and brings together all that is best at that particular moment in time. An artist whose vision is both personal and of universal significance, and the fruit of a particular time and place. A case in point is CéU, whose first album is in fact a sound-photo of the city of São Paulo, that wonderfully rich musical melting pot. CéU’s real name is Maria do Céu Whitaker Poças, but perhaps ‘Mary of heaven, full of grace’ would better describe how she looks and sounds! What strikes you first and foremost is CéU’s incredible voice, with its highly subtle tessitura. These names can serve as reference points, but they are soon forgotten as we listen to CéU’s unique timbre. The versatility of her voice in different registers is truly astonishing. Her cover of Bob Marley’s ‘Concrete Jungle’ shows what a great voice can do for legendary music – transcending it without betraying it. There are few covers on the present album, and only one excursion into the Brazilian repertoire, with a song written by João Bosco and Aldir Blanc, ‘o ronco da cuíca’. All the lyrics here were written by CéU. She also co-wrote the music with highly talented musicians: Beto Villares, first of all, who produced the present album so gracefully, as he did Mestre Ambrosio’s latest album, Terceiro Samba. And Alec Haiat, CéU’s musical double. Danilo Moraes also contributed to the composition (‘lamento’). The album reflects CéU’s eclectic music tastes, with a generous place accorded to soul music (‘lenda’), to afro-beat (‘rainha’) and to electro-jazz (‘véu da noite’).