Adriana Calcanhotto - Enguiço (1990)

The first album from Adriana Calcanhotto, Enguico reveals her to be a sensitive interpreter, a young singer who is somewhat hard to classify in the mean mass-production market, as the eclectic choice of repertory and arrangements here indicates. The album opens with "Enguiço," a swing conception with brass section, followed by a João Donato tune performed as an acoustic pop ballad. Next is "Caminhoneiro," a cheesy hit by Roberto Carlos, transformed in the excellent violão rendition of the wonderful late virtuoso Raphael Rabello. "Sonífera Ilha" follows, also an openly commercial hit by the Titãs, in a convincing bossa interpretation. "Disseram Que Voltei Americanizada," a classic hit by Carmen Miranda (interpreted with all Miranda's mannerisms), was written as a response to the intense criticism she suffered in Brazil after moving to the U.S.; it was recorded live. "Orgulho de um sambista" is a samba classic which got a pop ballad treatment, happily freed from gated snare drum; in fact, it has no drumming at all, just percussion. "Nunca" is a typical bossa classic by Lupicínio Rodrigues and follows the instrumental tone set by the preceding song. There are two more songs by newer composers, followed by an original. Calcanhotto has the courage to record old and excellent tunes, and the capacity to give them a sincere and heartfelt interpretation while avoiding clichés of a songs' original singers. With Enguico, she contributes to the rebirth of the best traditions of Brazilian music and brings them into the '90s, a big step forward for a country whose pop music was immersed in the most unappealing American rock/pop covers in the '80s.