Versatile Callil Shows Breakthrough Skill

Singer-dancer Christiane Callil may be the most promising new female entertainer to emerge from Brazil since actress Sonia Braga.

Her galvanized performance Friday night at the Century Club in Century City was an explosive, nonstop display of singing and dancing--the stuff of a significant talent in the making. Blessed with a leonine mane, a lithe body and the grace of a well-trained dancer, Callil was almost impossibly energetic in the sambas, engagingly provocative in her ballads and whimsically humorous with a tribute to Carmen Miranda.

The show that framed her performances, “The Girls From Ipanema,” featured eight dancers in a series of brisk, musically connected numbers encompassing samba, Brazilian rap and an audience participatory conga line. Callil not only starred but also created, choreographed, directed and produced the well-crafted production, which returned to the Century Club after a tour of Japan and an appearance with Aretha Franklin in Chicago during the week of the Democratic National Convention.

Her obvious versatility aside, however, what became even more apparent as the evening unfolded was that Callil has real breakthrough talent as a singer, and it’s hard to believe that she has not as yet been signed to a major recording contract. Her rich, alluring sound is reminiscent of Brazilian singers Simone and Nana Caymmi, and her visual presentations have a video-friendly appeal that recalls the seductive qualities of Celine Dion.

But Callil’s readings of “Aquarella do Brasil” and “O Amanha” also revealed attributes--a superb feel for rhythm and a strikingly intuitive capacity for interpretation--that were uniquely her own. Her image as the star of “The Girls From Ipanema” clearly works well for Callil, but the heart of a potentially important musical artist beats strongly beneath the colorful exterior of the samba queen.