Thank You – Lionel Bastos
Rising Above The Madness – Lionel Bastos
Leonel Levy Lopes Bastos is another of those artists who weren’t born and bred in South Africa, but who we count as one of our own. I know it’s a bit of a cheat, but when you’ve got people from other countries who come to our fair shores and make great music, you can’t help but claim it as ours. Bastos was born in Maupto in Mozambique, but made his music in South Africa.
It is gentle, beautiful music that Bastos makes and ‘Thank You’ is a fine example of this. Describing ‘Rising Above The Madness’, the album this was taken from and Bastos’ 3rd, The SA Rockdigest called it “an assortment of stirring vocals, sweeping strings, and wide-screen, emotional arrangements” and goes on to talk about Bastos having “a fluid songwriting touch, an ear for the hooky lyric, and a warm, emotive voice”. I quote this review of the album here as it goes a long way to summing up ‘Thank You’. It has mellow vocals that stir the senses, althought the strings on this track are more classical plucked than sweeping, but there is a sense of wide screen-ness to the song as it seems to stretch out (as lazily as a Sunday arvie) across an aural landscape. The sweeping comes more from the backing vocals which are floating ‘aaahs’ that are the velvet cushion on which the honey edged vocals of Lionel are presented to you.
This is perfect relaxing music. Think James Blunt without the annoyingly smug attitude.
Where to find it:
Rising Above The Madness – Lionel Bastos (2000), SAFM, CDVM35
Hear here.
1001 South African Songs You Must Hear Before You Go Deaf 