After two critically acclaimed albums, "Ess ê nha Cape Verde / This is my Cape Verde" (2005) and "Verdade/Truth" (2008), Carmen Souza returns in 2010 with the impressive "Protegid" (Protected) that blends perfectly with elegance and sophistication the African and Cape Verdean traditional rhythms with Contemporary Jazz and Afro-Latin. This groundbreaking album presents a highly innovative sound & a continuation of the work already initiated in the two previous albums: pushing the limits of what constitutes the Cape Verdean music, World Music and Jazz.
Carmen Souza: "The compositions and the bases of the songs with voice and bass first and then some pianos and percussion were recorded in London, pretty much everything else was recorded in the mobile studio, sometimes using only special rooms to capture the instruments, because of the acoustic requirements necessary. It was a great experience, because we had the opportunity and freedom to record and mix on super quiet inspiring environments without being obliged to be stuck to a common studio somewhere...”.
According to Portuguese Ethnomusicologist Domingos Morais this new set of songs shows Carmen Souza's excellent ability for melodies and lyrics while exploring her mesmerizing colourful, versatile and expressive voice. “Expressive, able to tell these wonderful texts without losing a single syllable and giving them an impressive intensity. The timbre records show domination and sensitivity that goes through states of mind difficult to translate musically.”
"Protegid" exceptional group of musicians from Jazz and World backgrounds, most of them from her band, come from several different countries around the world (Portugal, Cuba, Angola, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Nigeria, Canada, Palestine, France, UK), were somehow already linked to the project, performing live, or were invited by Carmen for the musical and artistic identification.
Names like this year Grammy nominee, Cuban pianist Omar Sosa, French Accordionist Marc Berthoumieux, Portuguese based Tora Tora Big Band and French based Oud player Adel Salameh from Palestine were some of the ones that add richness to this album.

Each of Cristina Branco’s albums contains, in a more or less conscious way, the germ of the one that follows it: Sensus, the last disk by the Portuguese singer, was the exploration of the erotic vein that touched on the field of a song in the work before it, Corpo Iluminado. Ulisses well deserves its name: Ulisses evokes voyages, adventure, wandering, love, leaving, returning. The myth of Ulisses could have been the origin of the Portuguese Saudade, this fatalistic nostalgia, marked by waiting, so linked with the sea and the uncertainties it generates.

Like Corpo Iluminado, my new album Sensus was inspired by a poem written by the Portuguese poet David Mourão Ferreira. Some will find the erotic themes of this album daring. To actually sing about physical love in this way is, indeed, quite out of the ordinary. And yet, this album embodies more than a daring thematic approach. Sensus offers the listener a true summary of viewpoints on sexuality and love, from the eighteenth century to the present day.

In 2000 Cristina Branco paid homage to the Netherlands, the country where she began her career and that is very devoted to her. She made a recording completely dedicated to the Dutch poet, Jan Jacob Slauerhoff, who lived for a time in Portugal. The cd Cristina Branco canta Slauerhoff achieved platinum status in 2001.

In 2001, Cristina Branco made her fifth recording in five years. Her voice has matured in that short period: she retains the freshness of the first recordings but in the low registers a new coloratura can be heard that perfectly matches the mood of the poems which she sings, with an effortless transition from melancholy to joy, from the sadness of the saudade to the rejoicing of the reunion. The maturity applies to the music as well, given that the compositions of Custódio Castelo continue to reveal new horizons for the fado. Listen to Corpo Iluminado, with its bleak and mysterious music, which seems to accompany the questions of the singer. Or listen to Musa, with its apparent freshness, in which the guitarist communicates the difficulties of the creative process through his instrument.

In 1997, a short performance on a Portuguese television program led to an invitation to perform in the Netherlands. This CD, originally published for a small group, was the result of this, her first performance as a professional singer, and it immediately became a big success.