The Ipanemas - Call of the Gods (2008)

In 2001, Far Out Recordings hailed the triumphant ‘Return of The Ipanemas’ (2001) which was followed up by the albums ‘Afro Bossa’ (2003) and ‘Samba is our Gift’ (2006). The Ipanemas fifth ever album and fourth with Joe Davis’ London based record label, ‘Call of the Gods’ is, according to Wilson Das Neves, their most complete recording yet. ‘I think we’ve been improving from one album to the next. We have been improving while trying to reach somewhere, a goal. It is the best we have done so far.’

That goal has taken them back to Africa, to the Orixas, the African Gods, and the Afro-Brazilian influences that guide their music. ‘Call of the Gods’ has also taken them closer to the original terrain of their debut 1962 recording (‘Os Ipanemas’) which oozed Afro-Brazilian grooves and is a unique reference point in the history of Brazilian music. Even where the African influence is not immediately explicit it is there entwined like a lover in the rhythms and the harmonies.