Luciana Souza with Romero Lubambo and Cyro Baptista

A performance by Luciana Souza with Romero Lubambo and Cyro Baptista

written by a member of the University Musical Society Student Advisory Committee

In 2002, the New York Times described Luciana Souza as "omnicultural". In her interview with Terry Teachout, Souza said, "People say, 'Oh, you're so eclectic,' and I usually say that I really don't look at styles anymore... I recognize, well, it's classical music or contemporary this or jazz that, or Brazilian, but I'm not worried about that... Let people decide for themselves what I am, and if they don't like it, they can get their refund on the way out.'' Teaming up with guitarist Romero Lubambo (who was already in Ann Arbor last Fall, performing with Gal Costa) and percussionist Cyro Baptista, Souza gave exactly this kind of easygoing and eclectic performance.

While some, such as the critic John Kelman, have characterized her singing style as "new bossa nova", Souza also regaled the audience with a few old and classic bossa nova standards. The ones that I think I recognized (although I am not completely sure) were Dindi and Águas de Março ("Waters of March"). Mostly, however, she engaged in a delectable and playful musical conversation with Lubambo and Baptista.

A description of the evening will not be complete without a few special words about Baptista, whom Relix Magazine has described as possessed of an "unbridled imagination, intense musical knowledge, skill and lust for sheer joy". Playing instruments that belong to the traditional drum set, as well as what looked to be traditional Brazilian percussion instruments (including gourds), and in addition playing bizarre-looking instruments that seemed to have stepped out of the imaginarium of a febrile musical genius, Baptista engaged in some intense percussion, smiling and thrusting his salt-and-pepper beard to and fro, looking somewhat like a mad scientist let loose in a music-maker's workshop.