Chants d’amour portugais du XVIIIe siècle. L’Avventura London, Ozmo.

   in Early Music Today (Dec, 2012)
Modinhas, songs of love and loss from the salons of Lisbon 200 years ago, are the forefathers of fado, the Portuguese national song-form that remains popular today. Both styles are concerned with the melancholy of love and loss, with ornate vocal lines and free instrumental accompaniment. But the modinhas are more wide-ranging in character, with a strain of lilting Afro-Brazilian melody that makes this excellently researched, performed and packaged album of songs and Portuguese instrumental music a revelation. Guitarist Zak Ozmo and his instrumental group L’Avventura London are joined by two Portuguese sopranos, Sandra Medeiros and Joana Seara, and their fervent – occasionally wild – singing is perfect for the intertwining …