Reviews of new world music and jazz releases.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

"POST-SCRIPTUM," CRISTINA BRANCO, L'Empreinte Digitale/Harmonia Mundi (4 stars)

There is a fine line between the light and the shadow, between love and disinterest, between all the questions love inspires and all the answers. That is where passion resides; that is fado.

Fado, the national music of Portugal, embraces all the emotions of total surrender and total control and total power and total helplessness.

Cristina Branco, not quite 30, is the latest new voice of fado. She brings to the table interests in the blues, jazz, bossa nova and other contemporary musical styles that inform her crystalline singing, and she offers an intriguing and captivating collection of songs that speak directly to the heart.

The disc opens with "Ai Vida (Alas, Life!)," an engaging lament that sets the tone for the entire disc: "Intense is my thirst/that's why I carry my insatiable soul;/A voice without tone, without time/ Secretly works in the shadows." The title tune is even darker: "I remove from you/With a veiled anger/Body/ Hand/Thought/ And one by one/I secretly blow out/The candles your breath has kindled ... " Only a love of great depth could plumb such sadness.

Branco incorporates a fair amount of light Brazilian jazz. And though the lyrics all are in Portuguese (the CD booklet offers translations), none of the inherent sentiment and mystery will be lost.

In the words of one of the songs, "Nao Oicas a Minha Voz" ... Don't listen to my voice. Seek out this compelling testament to the curative powers of music. It is reaffirmation of the old adage, `tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.