“Carmen Souza, c'est une pincée de Billie Holiday, un soupçon de Nina Simone et un côté rebelle à la Mina Agossi. Énergisante!”
—
JAZZFRISON-FR
“Carmen Souza en est l’illustration par ses variations rythmiques. Se baladant d’un style à un autre avec la même aisance, la même décontraction et surtout la même maestria, Carmen Souza voyage dans les musiques en se les appropriant. Le refus de l’enfermement dans un ou un autre style étant sa véritable identité musicale.”
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Tribune2lartiste-FR
“Carmen souza : prends garde à toi, Cesaria
Voici une découverte renversante ! Évidemment, on est tenté de citer Sara Tavares et Maria João, ses deux consœurs lisbonnaises, pour délimiter le terrain de jeu de Carmen Souza, entre jazz et musiques du monde. Mais cette artiste surprenante s’est forgé un langage éclaté qui lui est propre et elle n’accepte visiblement aucun carcan.
...Étonnant.
”
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L'ACTUALITE-CA
“This woman should go, by her own right, to the podium of the great female voices from Africa
”
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B!RITMOS-SP
“espectacular, flexible y brillante voz”
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RITMOS DEL MUNDO-SP
"Her voice, intuitive and powerful as the best jazz singers, is elegant even when she hits the limits of her personal proposal. [Carmen Souza is] one of those artists that with each new album makes an extensive exercise of her independence."
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SONS DE LA MEDITERRANIA MAGAZINE-SP
"Sophisticated and elegant, with a voice to match, Souza puts American jazz to the music of the Cape Verde Islands."
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THE STAR-CA
"With the purr of the late Eartha Kitt, Carmen Souza pours the heart into her music, with the same effect...sensitive , intimate and vivaciuos all the things found in Souza's music."
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BOSTON POST-GAZETTE-USA
“4STARS "Carmen surprises us with an excellent record that has African flavor-based morna, thoughalso invest in the globalization of her music." ”
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WORLD MUSIC MAGAZINE-SP
“5 STARS”
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CULTURE CAPITAL-UK
"The whole disc is a landmark that will prompt you to embrace and at the same time rethink everything you know and love about the sounds of Cape Verde."
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WORLD MUSIC CENTRAL-USA
"MARK OF EXCELLENCE : "Souza croons and purrs her way through stunning track after stunning track. Driving hard on the lively "Tentê Midj," only to evoke aching despair on "Sodade," Souza's voice is the embodiment of emotion."
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EXCLAIM-CA
"Carmen Souza may share a Creole tongue with her Cape Verdean-rooted contemporaries, but that's where the comparisons end. Her voice is singular, mercurial and slightly androgynous. It has a kind of dawn-to-dusk range that approximates several performers simultaneously, bearing more relation to Billie Holiday or even Tom Zé than to Mayra Andrade or Sara Tavares."
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SONGLINES-UK
"The lyrics this Cape Verdean singer has written have a vivid, passionate energy;Backed with rippling accompaniments from a band blending Afro-Latin and contemporary jazz effects, she beats up a very unusual storm. Just one song – "Sodade" – plugs her into the grand Cape Verdean tradition, but shows how far she has moved from its original exponent, Cesaria Evora."
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THE INDEPENDENT-UK
"Su voz es impresionante, se mueve entre la potencia cercana al grito desgarrador y la suavidad más intimista."
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Crisol de Musicas-SP
"O Mundo ajoelhou-se perante Carmen Souza ao segundo disco Verdade, de 2008. A cabo-verdiana de formação jazz criara uma voz única, fruto das influências de Sarah Vaughn, Joe Zawinul ou Joni Mitchell e de uma ajuda preciosa do instrumentista e compositor de excepção Theo Pas’cal."
—
RM, BLITZ-PT
“4 STARS”
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PARIS MOVE&BLUES MAGAZINE-FR
“4 STARS”
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ALL MUSIC-USA
“4 STARS”
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ATHENS VOICE-GREECE
"Protegid, the new album, is definitely a jazz album, and also definitely a Cape Verdean album...Carmen’s music reminds me of music back in the seventies, simultaneously solid and experimental, both inspiration and entertaining, elegantly serious and dancingly enjoyable...I strongly recommend Carmen Souza. She is an example of the new world (hopefully) a coming on strong."
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BREATH OF LIFE-USA
"Imagine if Billie Holiday sang in Creole and revisited her African roots then you would be half way to describing the voice of Cape Verdean Carmen Souza. The globetrotting musician possesses one of the most out-of-this-world voices to come along in a long time."
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THE WHOLE MUSIC EXPERIENCE-USA
"This album is an excellent brain-food."
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JAZZTHING-DE
“4 STARS ”
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JAZZTHETIK-DE
“4 STARS”
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JAZZMAGAZINE-NL
“4 STARS "Sometimes this Cape Verdean singer's sound is pure Billie Holiday, sometimes she gives the impression of Eartha Kitt on speed, sometimes her vocal pyrotechnics evoke a young Cleo Laine...The title means "protected", and the poetic voice is as original as the musical one.”
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THE SCOTSMAN-UK
“4 STARS:"Incredible original voice...surprising version of "Sodade"... chilling "Mara Marga
”
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TIME OUT LISBON-PT
“TOP 20 WORLD MUSIC CHARTS EUROPE –WMCE (APRIL 10)
TOP 20 WORLD MUSIC CHARTS EUROPE – WMCE (AUGUST 10)
"Some adventurous and lively Cape Verdean action - Omar Sosa lends a hand but Carmen Souza can stand upon her own music feet, no question.”
—
WMCE
“NOMINATED FOR BEST WORLD MUSIC ALBUM FOR GERMAN RECORD CRITIC'S AWARD (2010)”
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GERMAN CRITICS AWARD 2010
“5 STARS LIVE REVIEW"Cape Verdean songstress Carmen Souza has it all..."”
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Ton Maas, De Volkskrant, NL
“4 STARS“...Superb second album...All sung with a sensuous richness and wrapped up in luscious sound steeped in the melodic jazz of Ella or Hancock, Jarret or Zawinul.”
—
Simon Rowand , ROCK N REEL MAGAZINE, UK
“4 STARS "Sung in Creole and entirely composed by original songs, Verdade (Truth) looks to deserve its name in each word and each note, mixing traditional rhythms of the archipelago with multiple influences, mainly from Jazz.”
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J.L.A, Expresso, PT
"Imperdibile."
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Gian Franco Grilli , Salsa.it, Italy
"...Her Cape Verde tradition is as soft and sensitive as a Laura Nyro ballad-it’s a smoky, dive bar Cape Verde of subtle progressions and syncopations, of Rickie Lee Jones harmonies and Diana Krall Crooning..."
—
Alex Robinson , Songlines, UK
"Cultured singer who puts her own jazz spin on the music of her ancestral home, Cape Verde."
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Clive Davis, THE TIMES, UK
"Truth" unveils us Carmen Souza with a voice of diva of jazz - Full, deep, adaptable to any note, Low or high..."
—
A SEMANA, Cape Verde
