Sol Negro is the debut album by the Brazilian musician Virginia Rodrigues.[3][4] It was released in 1997.[5] The album peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's World Albums chart.[6]
JazzTimes wrote that "Rodrigues’s contralto voice is otherwordly, spiritual, exquisite."[12]Robert Christgau noted that she "never stretches her rich, Ella-like highs into a scat—though the few midtempo numbers have a nice jazzy lilt ... her instincts are exceedingly solemn."[17]Rolling Stone stated: "The ancient and the modern, the secular and the sacred seamlessly mingle in this document of Brazilian musical forms."[20]
Miami New Times deemed the album "a simultaneously somber and uplifting cycle of songs focused on the African experience in Brazil."[21]The New York Times concluded that "the record is both modern and roots-conscious in the best ways that Brazilians know how to be: it swings from Roman Catholic church music to carnaval sambas, ancient Afro-Brazilian drum patterns to sophisticated wind-and-string arrangements, all sculpted with delicate care."[22] The Chicago Tribune considered Sol Negro to be the eighth best album of 1998.[23]
AllMusic wrote that Rodrigues's "first major recording succeeds in juxtaposing her ability to carry both lilting Brazilian rhythms and slow harmonious melodies.[16]
