CD: Caratinga, Na Ponta do Pe

Caratinga is a London-based band that plays Brazilian samba and choro music with delicious-sounding acoustic instruments such as cavaquinho, bandolim, rabeca and caixixi. Adriano Adewale plays a huge variety of percussion instruments with great elan, while Jonathan Preiss leads from the seven-string guitar. Preiss contributes several lovely pieces, such as the sparky title track (which means "on the point of the foot"), which somehow fuses the spirit of Gypsy jazz with the vernacular dance music of Brazil's northeast, and the closing Valse pour Manon. Idris Rahman of Soothsayers, on clarinet, sounds entirely at home, while vocalist Leandra Varanda puts a smile on the face of the project with songs such as Voa Voa (Fly Away) and Chico Buarque's Samba do Grande Amor. The sound is gentle, but far from wimpy, and I imagine it will appeal equally to fans of Monica Vasconcelos and the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain.