Nos

1	Canto Para Exú 1:27
2	Uma História de Ifá 4:11
3	Salvador Não Inerte 4:57
4	Afrekêtê 3:41
5	Jeito Faciero 3:58
6	Ilê É Impar/Depois Que O Ilê Passar 0:30
7	Ilê É Impar/Depois Que O Ilê Passar 4:08
8	Ojú Obá 3:42
9	Raça Negra 3:41
10	Deusa Do Ébano/Deus Do Fogo E Da Justiça 0:32
11	Deusa Do Ébano/Deus Do Fogo E Da Justiça 5:12
12	Male Debale 3:30
13	Mimar Você 4:58
14	Reino de Daom 4:56

Barnes & Noble

Delivering music of stunning beauty, Bahian singer Virginia Rodrigues confounds the stereotypes: She brings a classical veneer to a repertoire of deepest Afro-Brazilian song with a contralto of operatic clarity. SOL NEGRO, her debut, voiced this intriguing mix here and there, but NOS defines Rodrigues's music as nothing less than chamber samba, suited for the concert hall rather than the Carnaval. The arrangements of familiar chants such as "Uma História de Ifa" and "Raça Negra," which can be heard voiced en masse by Bahia's blocos afro during Carnaval, are remarkable. Rich, reedy and mournful, Rodrigues's interpretations extract the nostalgia inherent in Brazil's swing (and even more pronounced in Portuguese fado and Cape Verdean morna). Without the rumble of percussion, these celebratory anthems are transformed into stunning testimonies of faith and survival in a strange place, delivered with a luminescent loneliness that's almost too hard to take. Since her "discovery" by Caetano Veloso, Rodrigues has changed perceptions of Brazilian music around the world, and on NOS, she continues forging her own tradition. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

Strongly informed by Rodrigues' allegiance to the Condomble religion, a Yoruban/African-derived faith with similarities to Haiti's Santeria cult, Nos finds the Brazilian singer once again weaving her powerfully spiritual voice through a supple backdrop of Bahian rhythms and tropicalismo flourishes. The disc appropriately begins with a song to Exu -- the Condomble goddess who enables communion with the high deities -- with Rodrigues' operatic voice ideally set off by a percussion-only backdrop. What follows is a varied and stunning dance with the musical muses, ranging from the chamber-like intimacy of "Uma Historia de Ifa" to the samba and bossa nova pop sounds of "Afrekete." This song and the more somber "Salvador Nao Inerte" are reminiscent of fellow Bahian native Caetano Veloso's recent work; Veloso, in fact, was instrumental in discovering Rodrigues and contributes here on the duet "Jeito Faceiro." And besides a coterie of musical alumni from many stellar Brazilian sessions, including ones by Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Milton Nascimento, producer Celso Fonseca (who also manned Rodrigues' Hannibal debut, Sol Negro) provides tastefully updated samba backdrops full of stellar string and reed arrangements. One of the most impressive international releases from the last few years. Stephen Cook