MUSIC . Aid or Invade

Portugal!

The problem is that it's monotonously competent.


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Published: May 19, 2010

Ana Moura Leva-Me Aos Fados (World Village)

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Yes, this month Aid or Invade salutes Portugal. Not for the country's musical output, which is, more often than not, total crap, but for having a recent economic crisis which briefly resulted in a devaluation of the Euro and a strengthening of the U.S. dollar, which helped to make it possible for Baptist minister and founding member of the Family Research Council George Rekers to hire a male prostitute, whom he found on rentboy.com, to accompany him on a recent trip to Europe. Rekers — who two years ago was paid $120,000 by the state of Florida to testify as an expert witness in a trial defending the state's prohibition on gay adoption — claims he did not know the young man was a prostitute until halfway through the trip, and that he had hired the youth to lift his luggage. If only Reverend Rekers had said "I hired him to handle my bags," the story would be perfect.

Whatever George Rekers and his prepaid pal were up to in Europe, it was no doubt much more exciting than any of the tracks found on Portugal's Ana Moura's most recent release on the World Village label, Leva-Me Aos Fados. Not that Leva-Me Aos Fados is a bad CD, per se. In fact, it's a rather competent collection of nicely sung folk tunes. The problem is that it's monotonously competent, with each song sounding remarkably like the one before it.

Verdict: