Following the enormous success of
Tribalistas, on which
Arnaldo Antunes worked together with
Marisa Monte and
Carlinhos Brown,
Saiba is
Antunes' sixth solo album. And on this one he continues his now-familiar flirtation with melodious pop music that was so apparent on both
Tribalistas and his previous solo effort,
Paradeiro. In spite of the light pop format,
Antunes never loses his musical and lyrical originality, depth and finesse. In fact, in many ways he sounds more inspired than ever. Among the songs, the delightful "Se Assim Quiser" and "Imaginou" are the most "pop," "Elisabete no Chuí" is Brazilian funk, while the title track, "Itapuana," and "Cabimento" exhibit
Antunes' own brand of singer/songwriter music. To conclude the album,
Antunes also turns Noel Rosa's old classic "A Razão dá-se a Luem Tem" into a very surprising and very enjoyable punk rock song. The production is excellent and
Saiba is probably
Antunes' strongest solo release yet. ~ Philip Jandovský