"Carmen Souza may share a Creole tongue with her Cape Verdean-rooted contemporaries, but that's where the comparisons end. Her voice is singular, mercurial and slightly androgynous. It has a kind of dawn-to-dusk range that approximates several performers simultaneously, bearing more relation to Billie Holiday or even Tom Zé than to Mayra Andrade or Sara Tavares." -- Songlines (United Kingdom)

"Imagine if Billie Holiday sang in Creole and revisited her African roots then you would be half way to describing the voice of Cape Verdean Carmen Souza. The globetrotting musician possesses one of the most out-of-this-world voices to come along in a long time. On her album Protegid, Carmen gives her vocals a tour of the African Diaspora, leaping back and forth between Cape Verdean music and American jazz. She sings in half-scat and half glissando uttering phrases in alto and then trilling in the soprano with her heavy vibrato voice fluttering like nervous birds. I recall Zap Mama more than I do Cesaria Evora, the Queen of Cape Verdean song." -- Whole Music Exp (United States)

"Fascinating songs and music...Not to be missed.” -- Salsa (Italy)

"Cape Verdean songstress Carmen Souza has it all: excellent repertoire, a nimble and versatile voice that glides effortlessly through a huge range of registers and a totally relaxed stage presence. Moreover, she swings like hell." -- De Volksrant (The Netherlands)