Music from the Chocolate Lands
Whether savored as a drink or devoured in solid form, chocolate is an abiding passion with many people, lifting their moods even as it expands their waistlines. The chances are that this album was born of a can't-miss marketing conceit but the musical choices make for a very tasty if surprisingly low-key listen. The tunes are uniformly acoustic and mellow, with just enough of a percussive swing to keep things from getting too static. Teresa Bright's harmonies sometimes recall a Hawaiian-style Andrews Sisters impression and Marcantonio's North-Eastern-flavored Brazilian track is fluid and lovely. But when Beethova Obas warns his embattled Haitian countrymen about the dangers of selfishness, it's obvious that he isn't talking about anything so trivial as sharing a candy bar. In fact, given the nationalities involved, the material is generally less topical than might be expected. However, the music often reflects the replete euphoria of cocoa-fuelled sugar shock. --Christina Roden