Mina Canta o Brasil

The great Mina Anna Maria Mazzini is one of the most iconic figures in Italian pop. She’s a curious presence, a singer of great force and energy who seems to see-saw between the accessible and the surreal; one look at her record covers, and a listen to some of her stranger albums, is all you need to realise that all is not as it seems with this idiosyncratic pop star. Mina Canta O Brasil sees her taking on some of the great songwriters of samba, bossa nova and Brazilian pop; her voice is made for the brassier, more spirited numbers, and there’s a particularly stunning rendition of Edu Lobo’s “Upa Neguinho” here, followed by a swooning take on Erasmo Carlos’s “Todas as mulheres do mundo.” And when she dials down the intensity, as on “Tem mais samba,” you get a sense of the great pliability of Mina’s voice. The arrangements are pitched well, mainly; the occasional risk of over-egging the pudding, so to speak, but generally, they create the perfect bed for Mina’s spirited approach to the great music of Brazil.