Latin Female Singers - Any suggestions?

For any lover of the female voice, its hard to overlook artists like Eliane and Karrin. What I am really seeking are the more obscure, overlooked singers. Even so, the suggestions are all great - please keep them coming.

I had a chance to listen Gal Costa's Live at the Blue Note and she is definitely among my favorites of those suggested. Also worth mentioning are Sylvia Telles, Tania Maria and Nara Leao discovered through the related artists feature on Spotify (great previewing tool). I just received a Susana Baca disc with a pile of other stuff I haven’t had a chance to listen as yet.

Back in the good ole days, there was one particular used cd store I loved visiting. I’d go at least once per week and spend hours going through isle after isles of cds discovering all the hidden gems. The best part of the store was the locked glass cabinets at the front where they stored audiophile stuff -- namely, MFSL for $14 each. I vividly recall the day, I went to pay for my usual pile and the proprietor suggested I include a compilation by David Byrne titled Adventures in Afropea 3. This was my intro to Cesaria and morna. I have been a fan since. This compilation is really worth searching out btw - wonderful music, especially the first track on the disc.

I'm a Brazilian fanatic. Frogman is correct that Ellis Regina is the best of the best. Check her out with Antonio Carlos Jobim called Ellis & Tom. It doesn't get any better.

Check out Bebel Gilberto. She's the daughter of Joao Gilberto who basically invented Bossa Nova.

If you want to hear something very special, Ellis Regina's daughter Maria Rita is nothing short of stunning. Check out her latest ELO. I'm positive without having any idea that she won a Latin Grammy for ELO.

I don't have much time to post right now but I can elaborate soon. I could go on forever about Brazilian music. It's my personal preference for Latin music. The history is amazing and the music is as influential as any other form of music from anywhere at any time in history.

Eliane Elias "A Long Story" is a great album!

It's a shame Elis Regina passed at such a very young 36 years in 1982.

"Salome De Bahia" is out of sight, so is Susana Baca, she's from Peru. Silvia Gomez, Nazare Pereira, Clara Nunes, Beth Carvalho, Fortuna, and Claudia Gomez, are all Latin singers.

Enjoy the music.

A few thoughts on the Buena Vista sound. If one uses as criteria two of Jazz's essential ingredients, improvisation and roots in African music, it is clearly "jazz"' as Rok points out. But the music heard on most of BVSC's recordings is actually closer to the "guajira" and "son" styles; the "country-music" of Cuba. The repetitive vocal style is the influence of the chants of the music that the West African slaves brought to the mix. It predates the Cubano-bop that came a decade or two later.