*** Lhasa

LA LLORONA

(Atlantic)

Number one on Quebec's French-language charts last year even though Montreal-based Lhasa de Sela sings entirely in Spanish, La llorona ("The Professional Mourner") now gets its US release. Its 11 tracks couldn't be more unlike the usual American radio pop. But if you have a mind to imagine Sade singing the Gipsy Kings, you'll probably enjoy every minute of de Sela's sultry alto in acoustic, 1930s-styled Mexican cabaret songs like "La celestina," "El desierto," "Desdenosa," and "El payande." As with the Kings' music itself, if the raw passion and painful, pounding lusts of these ferocious flamenco-ish blues don't getcha, the extravagant costume drama in de Sela's exotic vocals surely will. Dressed to kill, too, are lighthearted surprises like "Floricanto" and "Los peces," the latter a fisherman's song full of gypsy-jazz guitar runs by Yves Desrosiers, de Sela's accompanist and a virtuoso of the Montreal rock scene in his own right.

-- Michael Freedberg