Maria Bethânia - Maricotinha (CD)

All Music Guide

Maria Bethânia is an extremely talented singer with a unique and dramatic voice, but on to many occasions during her long career, her talent has been wasted on mediocre material. This is again the problem with some of the tracks of this album, but there are also some really excellent songs here, which show Bethânia at her very best. Vanessa da Mata's "O Canto de Dona Sinhá", where Bethânia sings together with Caetano Veloso, is a gem. "Quando você não está aqui", which has an unexpected kind of soft pop rock sound to it, is also very beautiful. "Juntar o que sentir" and "Noite de Estrelas" are two beautiful ballads. The elegant samba "Se eu morresse de saudade", written by Gilberto Gil and the simple percussion driven title track are also a fine moments. But the overall impression of this album is somewhat put down by a couple of rather stiff ballads, drenched in overelaborated string arrangements.

- Philip Jandovský, All Music Guide