Back on the road after a four-year break for the birth of her first child and the gestation of two new albums, Infinito Particular and Universo ao Meu Redor (My World), Marisa Monte sang liberally from them both last night, delighting her London fans with a typically glossy show embellished by stylish hi-tech visual effects.

Slim and graceful in a black flamenco-style dress, she was revealed on a raised dais that sank gently to the platform, where she and her nine-piece band were now surrounded by a remotely controlled set of large illuminated panels.

These glided silently back and forth on rails, constantly altering stage perspectives. Afterwards the production-crew credits took longer to roll than the names of the band, and no wonder.

Speaking in English but singing only in Portuguese, this elegant, well-travelled diva delivered tales of life, love and ecological unease in a unique country where sophistication and wealth still rub shoulders with tribalism and poverty.

Accompanying herself expertly on full-size acoustic guitar, the miniature cavacinho and even bass-guitar, she sang Carnavalia, Carnalismo, Satisfeito, Nao e Proibido and other originals co-written with her faithful team of Arnaldo Antunes and Carlinhos Brown.

Guitarist Mauro Deniz and trumpeter Marco Lopes had mini-moments but Marisa's voice was the evening's sole focus. She sang with a sweet and lightly soulful directness that has no exact British equivalent, though the popular music of Italy and Spain, nations that still love a love-song, can probably come closer.

Scored for cello, bassoon and violin as well as the traditional guitars and percussion instruments, her sophisticated arrangements were sight-read with smooth competence by Monte's sessionmen. Yet beneath the music's velvet glove were complex beats that retained Brazil's iron fist of rhythmic urgency.

"Human beings in communion with the music - it's beautiful," said Marisa with a final wave as the audience rose to join in her encore, Nao Va Embora (Don't Go Away). If the all-action Daniela Mercury dominates the "street" side of Brazilian pop, then Monte continues to rule the middle of the road, where the sounds of pure samba still linger. The Rolling Stones may have drawn a million people to their Copacabana Beach freebie, but they haven't killed off the bossa nova yet.