Women of the World
Gifted
Real World
Anyone who’s seen the commercial for the fragrance from Cacharel, Noa (the round little bottle with the “pearl” in the bottom) will instantly recognize the woman on the cover of the booklet and the first song on the CD. World music semi-star Sheila Chandra offers us “Song to the Siren” (the song from the commercial) as well as a remix of “Ever So Lonely/Eyes/Ocean” (which is very Madonna sounding, circa Ray Of Light). A few other very talented women of the musical world join her, such as Assitan Mama Keita doing “Baro” from Mali, Shruti Sandolikar from North India doing “Sri Jagadamba” which is a hauntingly moving chant of religion, and Eleftheria Arvanitaki from Greece, with “The Bodies and the Knives” which is a great example of Mediterranean music. This CD benefits those women who defy their stereotypes to produce music and speak their minds in ways that Americans take for granted. It’s a wonderfully done world CD with grace and class all the way through.
Real World Recordings, Wiltshire SN13 8PL, UK; http://realworld.on.net/rwr, http://www.narada.com, http://realworld.on.net/gifted, http://www.cacharel.com
