Iva Rothe: Aluguel de Flores

A New Talent

How about a treasure from Belém (situated on the mouth of the Amazon)? Her name is Iva Rothe-Neves: songwriter, singer, keyboard player or simply an all-around musician. She released her first solo project (recorded between July 2000 and April 2001), and it is entitled Aluguel de Flores. This album shows why she is one of the talented new names in Brazilian music.

The album starts with percussion. The way Airto would prefer to let people enjoy the sounds of the Amazon translated in percussion. The vocal lines by the octet Amabile clear the way to a very original arrangement (Iva Rothe) of Alceu Valença’s “Na Primeira Manhã.” It doesn’t happen too often that Alceu’s songs are interpreted in a way that’s adding to the composer’s own rendition. But this arrangement does it with a simple guitar riff (Renato Torres), a berimbau (Kelci Albuquerque) and beautiful percussion (Nazaco). And of course the beautiful voice of the singer. “Tum-Tá-Tá” by Walter Freilas (also from the same Amazon region of Brazil) starts of with a mediaeval sounding opening (strings and clavinet), but flows over into that wonderful berimbau rhythm with electric rhythm guitar and the very Brazilian sounding beautiful voice of Iva. As throughout the whole CD, the percussion is perfect. Not dominant, just beautiful. Also “Curumim” by Djavan gets a wonderful Iva Rothe arrangement that makes it sound like a brand new song. This is a big compliment on its own since this is one of Djavan’s better known songs. The beat goes against Djavan’s, which seems to do the trick with a shy berimbau again on the background. These three songs and “Um Girassol Da Cor do Seu Cabelo” (Lô and Márcio Borges) are the only non-Iva Rothe compositions. Eight songs were written by her hands. “O Dizer das Coisas” is a wonderful pop song, with guest vocalist Gileno Foinquinos. “Uma Tinta”, a theatrical song plunged into folklore, about the Matita Perera, the Amazon owl that can be heard with its colorful calling throughout the song. There is also the nice acoustic bass by Priamo Brandão and participation of Madrigal de Belém. The horn section brightens up the “Aluguel de Flores”, the up-tempo title song of the surprising CD. This song represents a bit the essence of this album, since it contains so many influences of Brazilian music. The mysterious “O Caminho das Pedras” features the acoustic bass of Adelbert, and special effects create a forest atmosphere. Or rather: this song will sound great late at night sitting outside in the forest… “Carrossel” opens in a Airto/Flora mood and evolves into a jazzy poptune with soprano sax by Paulo Levi. The string quartet Amazônia joins the berimbau and the vocal group Quarteto Cantares on “Só Coração,” a lazy song with a nasty guitar teasing the delicate voice of the singer.

Iva Rothe delivers a wonderful CD here. The songs are indeed 13 flowers that are lent by her to us. Very worth to look after… and no doubt a name to pay attention to: Iva Rothe.

For information on how to obtain this CD, please contact Iva Rothe.

ALBUM INFORMATION

Iva Rothe
Aluguel de Flores
APCE music 02/01 (2001)
Time: 49’33”

Tracks: