You'd assume an artist would be off to a flyer with his/ her career when their Dad has basically invented a musical genre, but even though BEBEL GILBERTO happens to be the daughter of Joao Gilberto - the man more or less personally responsible for the bossa nova - the weight of expectation within her native Brazil has meant her having to fight hard to be accepted as an artist of worth in her own right.
It's been a lengthy struggle, too. Bebel made her recording debut at the tender age of 7 on one of her mother Miucha's records and her live debut at Carnegie Hall (no Dublin Castle for our Bebel, eh kids?) with Mum and Jazz legend Stan Getz. Thankfully, though, she failed to morph into Lena Zavaroni and instead took her time in honing her vision by moving to New York in 1991 and gradually working up a style of her own with input from influential characters such as David Byrne, Thievery Corporation and Deee-Lite's Towa Tei.
The time and diligence proved worthwhile too, for her eventual debut album "Tanto Tempo" went on to sell well over a million copies worldwide, going on to become one of Brazil's biggest musical exports in the process. Bebel then hooked up with big-hitting names like Marius De Vries, Guy Sigsworth and Pascal Gabriel to make her eponymously-titled follow-up, with the onus very much on acoustic instrumentation: a move which couldn't really fail to further shift the emphasis onto Bebel's already sexily intimate voice.
Which is basically the story so far, or at least until "Bebel Gilberto Remixed" comes on the scene this week. As you might imagine, it's not a new album as such, and indeed the what-it-says-on-the-tin title soon gives away the project's mission: to effectively remix Bebel's delectably smooth music for the dancefloor and introducing her to the club massive in an altogether different form.
These kind of projects are notoriously sticky affairs, and invariably your reviewer finds himself enthusiastic about the intention, only to be disappointed with the execution. For example, he spent months trying to get into Can's "Sacrilege" remodellings only to finally give up and admit no-one could get close to the originals.
So in a sense, "Bebel Gilberto Remixed" is on a hiding to nothing, yet to be fair it has fir more redeeming features than perhaps we ought to realistically expect. Most of the remixers (including GUY SIGSWORTH, Chemical Brother TOM MIDDLETON, STEVE HILLIER and THIEVERY CORPORATION) are proven to be adept in this field; while - in the case of both Sigsworth and the Thievery Corp - some have already played a role in shaping Gilberto's sound thus far.
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Sensibly, too, most of the remixers sensibly ensure that Bebel's voice remains the focal point regardless of their tinkering. The opening "Ceu Distante" (DJ SPINNA) gives you an idea of the respect she commands, as her exquisitely breathy vocal and the tropical vibes are given a discreet kick by some dragging beats without anything being horribly defaced.
And, brilliantly, most of what follows acquits itself well and with considerable diversity. TOM MIDDLETON tackles "Simplesemente" by adding bustling, duffed-up beats and sensual pianos, but Gilberto's voice floats as tantalisingly as ever through the sensurround; THIEVERY CORPORATION beautifully accentuate the Arabian flute/ horn motif and clicky bossa nova beats wrapped around "Cada Beijo" and GUY SIGSWORTH creates a delectable new concoction from the nagging guitar hooks and Bebel's mother of all sensual vocals on "O Caminho."
Admittedly, some of the protagonists take greater chances, but even here no-one deals any terminal body blows. SPIRITUAL SOUTH instil some glitchy electronica into "Aganju", but the drum'n'bass renovation is sprightly and inventive, as is NUSPIRIT HELSINKI'S sleek, motorik Scando-disco revamp of "Winter" and the ambient pop chill STEVE HILLIER ushers into "Next To You."
The inevitable downside, of course, is that whatever all these innovative characters do, none of them can ever really hope to improve on the source material, so in that sense "Bebel Gilberto" is doomed to failure. However, as such extensive remix projects go, it's pretty much uniformly successful and acts as a nigh-on essential sister piece to the main event.
Which, considering the odds, is something of a result and surely a recommendation.
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