Women of Spirit

Yet another jewel in the Putumayo crown, Women of Spirit brings us an hour of soulfully respondent music from round the globe, made by women whose sound is full like lips, round like hips, and solid like bare feet on fertile earth. Women of Spirit is musky, sensuous, and womanly, at once wise and gloriously ripe. From the opening "Inexile," performed by Capercaille with Siberia, in which Karen Matheson's throaty alto wail soars round reeling Celtic fiddle, to the closing "A Song," featuring the mother-daughter African-American gospel blues harmony of Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon, Women of Spirit celebrates the stages not only of womanhood, but of the entire life cycle. Ani DiFranco's distinctively styled ringing guitar picking twined with her bust-loose vocals on the chorus of "Done Wrong" is deeply affecting. Cassandra Wilson shines on "Death Letter," and the exotic chant and slide of the French-Sudanese Groupe Oiywan makes staying still near impossible. This collection beckons one to embrace life, move to the rhythm, and find comfort in knowing that we are most powerful as a tribe. --Paige La Grone