Flor De Amor

The septuagenarian Cuban singer Omara Portundo is the lone female crooner of the famed Buena Vista Social Club.

But in the 1940s and 50s, she was the velvet voice of the jazz/bossa nova inspired genre known as filin.

On her second solo CD, which translates as Flower of Love, Portundo leads an assembly of Cuban and Brazilian musicians, featuring her Buena Vista bandmates, singer Ibrahim Ferrer and bassist Orlando Cachaito Lopez.

The Congolese guitar whiz Papi Oviedo, plays the Cuban tres on Amor de Mis Amores, Habanera Ven, Amorosa Guajira, and the title track.

Portundo s poetic pipes sweeten these Latin ballads, from the afro anthemed Tabu, to Casa Color, a new song penned for her by Brazil s Carlinhos Brown.

Sonically seasoned with strings, woodwinds, guitars, and background vocals, Portundo s musical love letters are postmarked with five decades of Afro-Cuban artistry.