Isabela

Amazon.com

Congo-born, Los Angeles-based singer-composer-bandleader Lemvo has been mixing the guitar-driven form of rumba he heard growing up in his homeland's capital city of Kinshasa, with its Cuban forebears--five-centuries-worth of Spanish melodies mixed with African rhythms--for a very long time. For his fifth album, which is named for his newborn daughter, he has wisely concluded that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The result is a deliriously joyous batch of bold-and-brassy, accordion-laced, percussive, sinfully melodic hip-swingers sung in several languages, but not only in the expected Congolese Lingala dialect, French and Spanish. For example, "Serenata Angolana," with sultry second lead vocals by Cape Verdean star Maria De Barros, is interpreted in Portuguese as a tribute to Lemvo's Angolese grandfather. But "Elebette," while transformed into a slinky bolero, is performed in the original Turkish. If "Malambo," written by the late, great Franco Luambo, and Tino Baroza's '50s-vintage "Lollobigida" constitute a return to the old nabe, "Mentirosa," with its gently propulsive charanga violins and flute, is more redolent of Havana by moonlight. Among the talent on hand, stand-outs include legends like guitarists Papa Noel, Bopol and Huit Kilos, singers Nyboma and Wuta Mayi, and bassist Miguel Yamba, but this is to name only a few. Fans of Africando and Kékélé should definitely snap this one up. --Christina Roden