" data-original-title="" title="">Paula Maya, made its way to the United States. Maya, who now calls Austin, Texas home, writes, plays, teaches and sings. She has a significant number of previous recordings—nearly a dozen—to her credit, but this one is a bit different. For one thing, it is an authentic product of Brazilian Popular Music (MPB), an urban movement that dates to the 1970s, if not a bit earlier. MPB melded a variety of Brazilian sounds with jazz and rock into a distinctive blend. For another, Maya's brand of MPB is a bit different, because Maya herself brings together everything from early music in the European tradition to a touch of flamenco, much in evidence in the original track, "Rosalie." And, just as importantly, there is the Afro-Brazilian element, very much the basis of "Iemanj��" a song about the February celebration there, fitting for a country whose involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade was considerably larger than that of the United States.

Perhaps, most importantly, Maya is with friends. The musicians are Brazilian, well known there, and many are Latin Grammy Winners. So the interplay, communication and time are all of a piece—spontaneous, as it were, as the recording has very much of a live feel. This is because those shared cultural experiences were recorded and mixed Rio de Janeiro, mastered in Miami, and released on Maya's own Yellow House Records in Austin, Texas. World music, for sure. But Brazilian at heart, equally so.

"Rosalie," the opening track, is an original, a tune of long gestation and by Maya's account, rooted in her experience in early music. "Vivo Sonhando" ("Dreamer," in English) is a classic by