Romantically Elegant: Suzana Da Camara

The music on Suzana Da Camara's newest album Proof of Love is suffused with romantic elegance that not only makes for fun, engaging listening, but prevents love from sounding cliché. Her emotions on the disc feel authentic and not in any way contrivedthat classic pitfall too many pop musicians succumb to. Her intense, passionate voice sings about sexuality from the perspective of a woman filled with longing, but her inventive phrasing and the playful echo of the piano make her sound powerful and in control. Interestingly, her songs without English lyrics (five are in English, four are in French, and one is in Portugese) are every bit as emotionally compelling as those which are sung in the only language this reviewer understands. Da Camara's sexy, cabaret spirit is enough to communicate the intensity of her passion without actually understanding the literal meaning of her words; sometimes music is a more expressive language than any of the spoken ones, right? In any case, the evocative, carefully written rhymes are written on the inside of the CD cover. It is interesting to read a line while the song is playing, guess how the line will be sung only to be surprised by Da Camara's phrasing. It is clear she feels an intimate connection with each song.

The musicians on Proof of Love are united in their purpose to amplify Suzana's passions. There are no ground breaking innovations or technical solos to dazzle, as it's not at all the point on this type of album. The album's great strength is Suzana's ability to communicate her passions, and the musicians succeed in paralleling her feelings. In fact, throughout the album their instruments literally parallel the melody and phrasing of her voice, reinforcing how the two are a part of the same thing. It's as if the musicians are under the power of Suzana's rapture.

But Proof of Love avoids becoming a tired, two-dimensional love album because several things are done to give character to each song. For one thing, there are no less than twenty different instruments featured on the album, ranging in sound from horns, to banjo, to a kids choir. In no way is all this instrumentation dense or overbearingjust the opposite The album maintains a very clear, open feeling because most of the instruments are secondary and appear on at most a couple songs. Next, and as mentioned above, the different languages in which she sings give the album's sound variety and spice. Finally, the tempo is effectively shifted on ballads like Il ny a qu'un homme', a slow, sensual romantic tune. The songs are borne of the same feeling, but because of the different tactics used you never feel like it's redundant. Listening to Proof of Love is like being in the presence of a beautiful, elegant, and seductive woman. It is a powerful expression of female sexuality because it is upfront in its theme while being tastefully withholdingthe core idea behind cabaret. And of course, it's extremely easy on the ears!

Find more information about Suzana's live shows and buy her CD at http://www.suzanadacamara.com

Jeff Halperin
		About the author:
		Co-founder of Fingertips School of Music, Jeff teaches people young and old how to play guitar. He has a BA in English from Dalhousie University as well as a BA Education from U of Toronto.
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