Flor Nocturna

CD Flor Nocturna Marta Topferova

Marta Topferova’s dusky-sweet, cafe-au-lait vocals have evoked comparisons with Mercedes Sosa (Argentina,) Nana Caymmi (Brazil,) Amalia Rodrigues (Portugal) and Cesaria Evora (Cabo Verde.) Her original compositions, with their modern hearts and ancient souls, incorporate high-and-lonesome Andean-based melodies and other Central and South American folkloric and urban-based tributaries. The discerning ear will also pick up echoes of the Spanish Caribbean, American jazz, European cabaret and not surprisingly, an underlying whiff of Slavic melancholy. Topferova's material also harks back to Nueva Canción, a movement of intellectual Latino singer-poets that flourished during the mid-to-late twentieth century. Her earliest inspiration, Inti-Illimani, was a leading light of that style, as was the late Atahualpa Yupanqui of Argentina. On Flor Nocturna, Topferova has chosen to cover two of the latter’s works, "Los Hermanos" with its stalking, tango-inflected rhythms, and the darkly anthemic "Tú Que Puedes, Vuélvete." Her unashamedly emotional yet subtly delineated gifts as composer and performer, augmented by an all-acoustic consort of cuatro, guitar, flute, cello, marimba, squeezebox and percussion, continue to wax deeper and finer. First-time listeners are transformed into ardent fans and the cognoscenti return again and again, eager to be swept away by her warmth, elegance and sensuality.