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Izaline Kalister Kanta Helele (Network Medien) $17.99 Curaçao has always been a melting-pot of many cultures - African, European and Caribbean styles have shaped the music here, influencing Calister since her childhood. Through her recordings, she has injected a rejuvenating vitality into the traditional music of her homeland, incorporating new musical directions without pandering to modern fashions. Calister mixes Antillean waltzes with calypso rhythms, introduces violins into a merengue and creates a new arrangement of a Caribbean hymn incorporating an African-style choir. The overall effect is a celebration of Caribbean diversity. Listen

More info: Izaline grew up with music as something that was part and parcel of dail life. Later, as a music student in the Netherlands, she honed the techniques that would help her to tap into her inner musicality “…so that it sounded just like I heard it inside me. Sometimes it is like a mind within my mind. Her performances as a barefoot diva with real stage presence are unforgettable and her compelling, multi-facetted voice – whether in ballads or in lively songs – cannot fail to touch anyone who appreciates great vocal music. No wonder “The Beat” hailed her as one of the “irresisitible divas of the Caribbean. After the huge success of her Network CD “Krioyo” (No. 1 in several Caribbean hit parades) and her highly acclaimed tours of a number of countries, Izaline retired into herself for these new recordings: “I felt an expanded musical concept seething inside me. While composing and arranging the new songs, I wanted to link my musical roots in Curacao with the magic elements of the different musics I have been repeatedly in contact with over the past years – although the intention was also to be very personal.” The fruit of her overwhelming delight in this project is a southern-Caribbean cocktail of scintillating rhythms and enthralling ballads. She mixed Antillean waltzes with calypso rhythms, opened a salsa piece with jungle sounds, turned “musik di zumbi” (music of the spirits) into a fiery “karnaval di zumbi”, introduced violins into a groovy merengue piece, and did a totally new arrangement of a Caribbean hymn with an African-sounding choir. Plus several quiet pieces in which we hear Izaline's heart-rending voice accompanied by piano, guitars, cello and accordion. A mesmerizing celebration of Caribbean diversity.

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