Alive! in Lisboa

AMG Review of Alive! in Lisboa

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Alive! in Lisboa chronicles a concert given by Cape Verde singer Sara Tavares and her five-piece backup band before perhaps a thousand listeners at a cinema in Lisbon, Portugal, on March 27, 2007. She was promoting her 2006 album Balancę, her first recording since 1999's Mi Ma Bô, and for good measure both CDs are included in this package. (The latter was long out of print after having been released only in Portugal.) Tavares began the 96-minute concert quietly, accompanying herself on kalimba for "Barquinho da Esperança," then moved to acoustic guitar, bringing on two other guitarists, a bass player, and two percussionists to accompany her. As on her albums, the songs were gently rhythmic romantic and uplifting tunes rendered in her light, elastic voice. The CDs reveal considerable artistic growth between Mi Ma Bô, made for a major label when she was just turning 21, and the more mature Balancę, but in the concert Tavares managed to incorporate such earlier numbers as "Mi Ma Bo (Bo Ma Mi)" and "Nha Cretcheu (Meu Amor)" into her more individual later style. Still under 30, though, she still seemed quite young, even if she demonstrated that she had developed into a compelling concert artist.