Lura, World on 3, 26 June 2009
I am so accustomed to meeting musicians whose lifetime ambition has been to make their living from music, it’s a refreshing change to meet a singer as casual and unambitious as Lura, whose only expectation was to be a dancer. Luckily, almost ten years ago somebody heard her in duet with a famous singer, and here she is, four albums into a solo career and getting better every time.

The danger with the easy-on-the-ear tone of Cape Verde’s singers is that they so easily invite and accept arrangements that would work well in night clubs and hotel lounges. When Lura played WOMAD a few years ago, her main set in the Siam Tent really did sound like it belonged in a night club, but when she came to play on my Radio London show a few hours later she had was accompanied by just guitar and her own percussion, which is what we got in this programme too.

Lura
All the songs are from Lura’s new album Eclipse and, without any keyboards to smooth down the edges of her voice, she sounds so refreshingly immediate and engaging, I was moved to congratulate her on having a tone reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald at her best, able to sing to the edge of her range without needing to push past it. Graciously accepting my praise, Lura then confounded me by playing a track by Jennifer Hudson. As you will gather from my reaction, I had never heard this singer before and was obliged to endure a shouter who would make Mariah Carey or Celine Dion seem restrained by comparison.
Every now and then, I am caught out by my policy of inviting guests to play whatever they like, with no censorship or filtering, and it is difficult to convey the pain of having to sit through this. How can a singer with such a beautiful tone possibly enjoy somebody with such an ugly voice? It’s a mystery that goes back to the 1920s when Louis Armstrong bewildered his admirers by praising the million-selling bandleader Paul Whiteman. On the one hand, it’s as if the gifted musician has no idea what makes him/her so special to our connoisseur ears, but on the other it’s recognition of what the wider world seems to like best. No singer wants to be boxed into the categories where we may choose to file them, and Lura is entitled to believe that her music would be enjoyed on more mainstream stations than Radio 3. I think so too. And by the way, or not so by the way, she is delightful company.

Lura
The programme is first broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 11.15 pm (23.15) on Friday 26 June 2009 and remains online on iPlayer for seven days at www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldon3
Seq - Artist - Song Title - Album - Country - Label - Cat no
1 - K'naan - Fatima - Troubadour - Somalia/Canada - A&M/Octone - B0012479-02
2 - Chalachew Ashenafi - Munit - Ilita!: New Ethiopian Dance Music - Ethiopia - Terp - AS-15
3 - Up Bustle & Out with Şevval Sam - Yol Türküsü - Istanbul's Secrets - Turkey - Collision - CCT3017-2
4 - Lhasa - Fool's Gold - Lhasa - Canada - Warner - 2564690483
- Lura (vocals, percussion) in session with Osvaldo Diaz (guitar) Part One - - - - -
5 - Lura - M'Bem Di For a - in session - Cape Verde - -
6 - Lura - Marinhêro - in session - Cape Verde - -
- Radio Ping Pong with Lura (*)
7 - Waldemar Bastos - N Gana - Telling Stories to the Sea - Angola - Luaka Bop - 9362 45669 2
*8 - Buika - Mi Niña Lola - Mi Niña Lola - Spain - DRO Atlantic - 082564 6327 423
9 - Cesaria Evora - Bia Lulucha - Telling Stories to the Sea - Angola - Luaka Bop - 9362 45669 2
*10 - Jennifer Hudson - And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going - Jennifer Hudson - USA - Arista -
11 - Mario Lucio - Dioge E Cabral - Badyo - Cape Verde - Lusafrica - 02392-2
*12 - Dee Dee Bridgewater - A Tisket A Tasket - Dear Ella - USA - Verve - 537 896-2
13 - Miriam Makeba - Click Song No 1 - The Essential Recordings - South Africa - Manteca - MANTDBL502
*14 - Amalia Rodrigues - Nem As Paredes Confeso - The Art of Amalia - Portugal - EMI Hemisphere - 7243 4 95771 2
- Lura (vocals, percussion) in session with Osvaldo Diaz (guitar) Part Two
15 - Lura - Un Dia - in session - Cape Verde
16 - Lura - Maria - in session - Cape Verde
17 - Sambasunda - Lost Two Tigers - Island Blues - Indoniesa (Java) - Network - 21.292
18 - Aynur - Ehmedo - Crossing The Bridge - T urkey - Corazon - 5050467 8740 2
19 - African Jazz - Parafili - Congo: Rumba on the River (African Pearls) - Congo - Syllart - 6129042
20 - Cape Verde Show - Santa Catalina - 20 Years of Syllart - Cae Verde - Syllart - CDS 8911