Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Sunshine, Rum, and Mango May 18, 2008
'Giordano Hussein Bruno' (Campo dei Fiori)
8 out of 13 found this review helpful
I picked this Putamayo anthology up at a coffee shop last December, to get in the mood for Dominica and Matinique. The coffee was mediocre - you can guess the brand - but the selection of music, twelve tracks by different groups, was sleek and tangy, Afro-Caribbean rhythms with Gallic suavity. The Creole French CAN be understood...after listening carefully a dozen times...and the usual lyrics of love and sorrow are sauced with pungent satire of a neighboring society to the north. I don't suppose many tourists catch the drift...
Beautiful, hip-swaying, soulful music anyway. The sad thing is that I spent my twelve nights in the Caribbean searching the streets and bars for comparable music, and found... nothing but imported hip-hop on squawky speakers. I did have the pleasure of meeting "DJ Bling", however, in an empty "dance-hall" ten miles into the rain forest above Roseau. DJ Bling assured me that a busload of island girls would surely be arriving any moment. We shared two pitchers of rum-mango punch and I promised to mention him to my musician friends back home. I'm keeping my word.
The best of Putumayo's May 9, 2007
A. Lugo (Huntington Beach, California United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Just playing this CD sets you in a good mood!. The compilation is up-lifting and all time favorites!. It is the best of Putumayo's Colection
A breath of fresh air January 21, 2007
May Flower (WI)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Uplifting and exotic. A great compilation with a beat!
fabulous! March 10, 2005
Foreign Language teacher (Chicago, IL USA)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Standard French Caribbean music, all with a great beat! I play it in my high school French classes that I teach, and the teens love it too!
One of Putumayo's Best November 21, 2004
Jeremy Franceschi (Uxbridge, MA)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
An easy-going mix of biguine, merengue-ish extremely enjoyable tunes that get your feet moving. Five of the songs (half the album!) are among my all-time French Caribbean faves, and there are no dogs. You can't help smiling during "Parfum des Isles, a good-natured instrumental. The live Kassav cut, OK but not one of their best, is the only true driving zouk on the cd. The rest are more laid-back, but rhythmically more interesting and appealing, with an almost Brazilian feel. The four of us at work all love this cd, and it has held up well after repeated listenings. We recommend it highly.
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