review

Whitney Tai’s “Sleepwalking to the Moon”, a song in orbit between peace and pain.

Black & white cover photo of pop singer Whitney Tai for her single, Sleepwalking on the Moon. — Whitney Tai – Sleepwalking to the Moon

Whitney Tai’s “Sleepwalking to the Moon”, a song in orbit between peace and pain.

Patrick O’Heffernan

Sometimes Whitney Tai’s music is fragile, delicate, barely entering your ears. At other times it is fierce, dense, demanding of every one of your senses. But either way, it touches your heart with a power that is hard to define but instantly recognizable. “Sleepwalking to the Moon” touched my heart, light as a feather but as sharp as a hypodermic.

“Sleepwalking to the Moon” was written by Tai and Andrew Kingsley with Tai’s fragile-sharp lyrics and ageless childlike voice, “Produced by Tim Janssens and Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound in Los Angeles, it is another example of Tai’s sense of design in sound and her deft hand at guiding and crafting recordings that are a natural soundscape for her voice and her poetry.

It is her poetry that gives “Sleepwalking to the Moon” such power beneath her so breakable but so strong voice. Wide awake and dead asleep at the same time, she opens the song in nine brief words that give you a life history and an interior look that is miles deep. She has to live her life, but maybe not willingly: Can I face the truth again? While the blood is running thin. Sleepwalking to the moon, she tunefully whispers over Andrew Kingsley’s perfectly pitched, simple guitar strum. You can see her in orbit, floating between peace and pain, balanced between the earth and the moon.

“Sleepwalking to the Moon” orbits not only space but your mind. It keeps circling, never burning up in your atmosphere of distractions, keeping you transfixed, even as you go about your day. “Am I sleepwalking to the moon?” you ask yourself as the chorus I’m a million miles away, tell my friends I’m ok, replays again and again in your mind and in your ears. Maybe we are all sleepwalking to the moon, maybe Tai is on to something — an eternal truth.

Tai has been forced to contemplate eternal truths in her life. She lost the person who most encouraged her creative work, traumatizing Tai for some time. As she dealt with depression, anxiety, weight loss, and fear she used the time to learn to channel the pain into poems and songs that are honest and understandable. The result has been, for me, three years of some of the best dream pop and alt-rock I have ever heard, with “Sleepwalking to the Moon” the latest in her heavenly body of work. We are all richer for it, whether we are sleepwalking to the moon or present every moment – or both at once, as Whitney Tai seems to be able to do.

Patrick O’Heffernan, Music Sin Fronteras

Whitney Tai https://www.whitneytaimusic.com/home

Streaming link: https://lnkfi.re/sleepwalkingtothemoon

SoundCloud Link: https://soundcloud.com/whitney-tai/sleepwalking-to-the-moon/s-wZEYG

Song written by Whitney Tai and Andrew Kingsley.
Produced by Tim Janssens.
Mastered by Greg Calbi, Sterling Sound.

Official Video – Whitney Tai Feat. Andrew Kingsley – Sleepwalking to the Moon

“Búsqueda” by Yanin Saavedra: A stunning debut album that shimmers with promise.

By Linda Garnett

“Búsqueda” by Yanin Saavedra: a stunning debut album that shimmers with promise.

Patrick O’Heffernan

The first time you listen to Yanin Saavedra’s debut album Búsqueda, you realize that this is something different – that your ears are in the presence of a unique and exquisite talent. But – like its title – Búsqueda leaves you searching, probing deeper for the heart of the album and of Yanin herself. So, you listen again, and again.

It is not that Busqueda is addictive, which it is, but that Yanin herself is addictive. She seems to be both a mystery driving your own search and an open book awaiting your perusal. I have never encountered an artist quite like her. In Busqueda she talks to you – literally – but then skips away, beckoning you on a journey like a child running through a dark forest with bright balloons. Her voice curls like soft smoke from a candle and then reforms with the sharpness of a straight razor. She brings these two sonic powers together in 12 songs in an album that is simultaneously a giggling adventure and an incisive introspection with every note precisely shaped by her otherworldly, outlier voice.

Yanin Saavedra has been releasing versions of some of the songs for several months now while she tinkered with the final album, making her fans wait but satisfying them in the interim with live performances and a house concert preview. The wait was worth it; the album is a story on its own, a coherent whole that hangs together like a fast-moving adventure story. Each of the dozen songs is a gem on its own and a connected step in Yanin’s search, moving you forward like clues sprinkled along a wooded path. Each is different, each has a personality that can grab your hand or your throat or both simultaneously.

The title song” Búsqueda” opens the album and sets the tone as Yanin spins out her story in an edgy French-influenced high range that softens seductively when she rolls her Mexican “r’s. It isn’t until the breakdown that you are aware of Alvaro Mendeles’ crystal bell-clear guitar notes moving the song thorough a landscape of strings and her overdubbed voice.

You come down to earth quickly with “Cuestiona la illusión” as the tempo picks up with a faster guitar strum and Angel Madrigal’s gentle snare beats. But as the music moves lightly it reveals the depth of the question she is asking– is this life an illusion? We are searching with her, continuing into “Mariposa” which adds Vincent Hour’s accordion to color the path as Yanin goes from conversational to lyrically seductive.

“Anhelo” – “Yearning” in English – upends the mood, just to make sure you remember we are on a journey so don’t get too relaxed. Opening with pounding drums that back off but still move like a running pulse underneath a Spanish-inflected guitar, the song is like a walk on the beach in Ensenada at midnight. Quick, earthy, joyful, but full of meaning and desire. As your foot stops tapping, Yanin sweeps you into a deeper world with “Haramara”, her voice ringing out as from a cavern with a touch of echo and a guitar movement that tears at your heart. My favorite song on the album.

“Aliento” continues the mystery of” Haramara” but rather than into the arteries of the earth it takes you to the space between the stars that can only be reached by going into your OM mind. An instrumental with a drone backdrop, the search has now gone inside your consciousness and pushed transient thoughts aside. “Sal” pulls you out of the void and kicks up your heels. Dance-paced with the feel of a Spanish-Moroccan nightclub in the 20’s, “Sal” levitates you around the floor like a marionette led by Yanin’s whisper in your ear. Is it gypsy? It is French jazz with a clarinet? Is it banda-rock? Who cares? It is a delightful station on your search. And it gets even more continental as Yanin moves on to “Dans tous les trains”. Truly now you are in Paris at midnight with an accordion-driven cabaret.

But the search returns to Yanin’s unique interior world of Mexican light/heaviness in “Sin Reflexión, before it moves to one of the best songs on the album, “Impermanente”, skipping lightly with brush-energized snares, Estaban’s clarinet, and of course that voice. The mood carries on in “Transformation” but with a more familiar beat and Yanin’s conversational voice, close to the microphone, closer to your ear.

She finishes the album with “Resonancia” a complex interplay of her down-to-earth vocals, accordion, and light touch but complex percussion. After a somewhat pretentious intro Yanin throws open the door to a last dance, but not a last stop of the search. The song stops and takes a sharp turn with bongos and Yanin’s voice resonating with a slight echo and high production overdubbed vocals and precise finger-picking guitar. Like everything else on the album, it is unique, intriguing and addictive.

I for one am very happy Yanin took the time to get all of the details right with the album. She understands, either intuitively or consciously, that her voice is an outlier from those you hear on the radio or streaming services every day. She has taken this understanding to produce a debut album that capitalizes on her outlier voice and shimmers with wonder. Busqueda stands on its own as a work of musical artistry but promises much more to come.

Búsqueda by Yanin Saavedra

Gilberto Rios, bass, double bass

Angel Madrigal, percussion

Luis Mariano Almaguer, guitar

Vincent Houdré, accordion

Juan Pablo Medeles, guitar

Estaban, clarinet

Mixed by Alejandro Meludis and mastered by José Ferrer

Available for download and streaming at Bandcamp

Yanin Saavedra https://www.facebook.com/yaninsaavedra/

Rising Appalachia’s Ley Lines blends cultures and harmonies into pure bliss

By Linda Garnett

Rising Appalachia’s Ley Lines blends cultures and harmonies into pure bliss

Patrick O’Heffernan

The word “ley lines” was coined in 1921 by the amateur English archaeologist Alfred Watkins, describing the apparent alignments among historical and geological spaces, hypothesizing that they had persisted over millennia to facilitate travel, trade, and community. Later, others theorized that global ley lines exist to transmit energy and light from the sun and stars to create magical bliss in spaces for sacred healing rituals. All of which is a good introduction to the music of Rising Appalachia and their just released 7^th studio album, Ley Lines. The album brings stellar energy, blissful melody and a healing message for the soul and the earth.

The Atlanta-based sisters Chloe and Leah Smith have traveled the world, touring by sailboat, train, and van, to fill venues and festivals in the US, Canada, and Europe, and participate in cultural exchange programs in Bulgaria, Ireland, Italy, and Central and South America. Along the way, they have absorbed the rhythms, melodies and the emotions of many cultures. This enables them to seamlessly blend American roots music with Celtic instrumentation and African percussion – with a bit of blues thrown in. Centering their music on their main instrument, their golden harmonizing voices, they take listeners live and recorded across the world on ley lines of musical magic.

Ley Lines distills the Smith sister’s lifetime of musical experience into 12 songs, each one a work of precise craft and joyful art. Opening the album with their voices unifying in “I Believe in Being Ready”, a deeply Southern and seemingly religious apocalyptic ballad driven by the bodhran (Irish hand drum), the sisters immediately let you know this album is something special. It is followed by the swaying “Harmonize”, released in February and premiered by Rolling Stone as the album’s first single. They are then joined by Ani DiFranco on “Speak Out” , asking “what have you done to this kingdom”, excoriating the powers-that-be for pollution of the geographic, political and cultural landscape of their home, the South.

“Love Her in the Morning” and “Shed Your Grace” follow with South Carolina roots, folk, and reggae singer/songwriter Trevor Hall to shift both the tempo and your emotional state as Chloe and Leah weave their harmonies with Celtic undertones and other voices. They move smoothly to the hypnotic, almost blues-like minor-tones of “Sadjuna”, mixing African male vocals with their ghostly synchronization and Irish fiddling in this deeply penetrating song about coastal Ghana. The gut-wrench continues with “Magic Maker” as they sing “what are we going to do with the wicked of the word….the smoke and mirrors…those in power”. Moving onto “Sassafras” they swing back to Appalachia, but with the Irish bodran and subdued sounds of Biko Casini on the n’goni (West African resonant harp).

The mood shifts 180 degrees with their original song “Sunny Days” a delightful a’ cappella tribute to the roots music of Appalachia and old southern gospel extolling the simple beauty of the land – mountains, streams, spaces to find peace –spaces that have been defiled by mines and roads and loggers but still endure.

My favorite song on the album, Rising Appalachia’s version of Robert Hunter’s “Cuckoo” is musically evocative of the Ireland of my ancestors while sailing us through one of Americana’s staunchest stories in a musical vessel of mesmerizing, otherworldly harmonies. Simply stunning.

We go from the close-your-eyes and drift of “Cuckoo” to “Indigo Dance”, a smoky nightclub of a song with the sisters’ blues/rap colored with the trumpet of Maurice Turner and driven gently with David Brown’s standup bass. Ley Lines ends with the most consequential song on an album of consequential songs, “Resilient”. Released last year to high praise on NPR the song was labeled “protest music for the modern age” by Rolling Stone. The sisters sing of “my roots down deep” as Arena Diarra ramps up the tempo and the urgency on the talking drum. An anthem of people/woman/music power, “Resilient” carries you up to the power you know you have, the accomplishments you know you can achieve, and the excitement of being alive. A song to play when you feel down, before you go into battle, and when you are victorious.

Ley Lines is Rising Appalachia’s first studio album recorded outside of the South, completed over a 10-day stretch in a studio overlooking the ocean in Marin County, north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The entire band recorded the album live, with Chloe, Leah, David Brown (stand-up bass, baritone guitar) and Biko Casini (percussion, n’goni) and two new members, West African musician Arouna Diarra (n’goni, talking drum) and Irishman Duncan Wickel (fiddle, cello) in the same room. Produced by Joe Henry – the first time they have used an outside producer, it is a remarkable achievement for less than two weeks work. Rising Appalachia also recorded special guests Ani DiFranco, songwriter Trevor, and jazz trumpeter Maurice Turner on specific songs for Ley Lines.

I recently saw Rising Appalachia live and understood immediately why they fill venues small and large worldwide: musicianship that transcends technique into high art, lyrics that mean something, and pure joy onstage. Ley Lines captures all of that and puts the joy directly into your ears.

Patrick O’Heffernan. Host, Music FridayLive!,

Rising Appalachia https://www.risingappalachia.com

Ley Lines released May 3. https://stores.portmerch.com/risingappalachia/

“Harmonize” single available https://risingappalachia.fanlink.to/Harmonize

EP Review: Deanna Devore – half and half

By Linda Garnett

Chicago and Toronto based Deanna Devore is not only a singer and a songwriter but also a producer and multi-instrumentalist. She showcases her talent on the EP half and half, which she self-produced in a Toronto home studio and played all of the instruments. Half of the seven tracks on the EP reveals her downtempo electronic side and the other half of the album spotlights her acoustic singer-songwriter style.

Devore writes her songs keeping in mind what the outcome and effect the music will have on the listener. Her songwriting inspiration comes from a sensory position where particular melodies or chords evoke an emotion or feeling. She reveals that she digs into the darkness and light of life and love when it comes to lyrics.

Devore has also successfully performed at local, regional and national sold-out festivals such as NXNE, 80/35, Summerfest, and CMJ. She has also opened for electronic masterminds Bonobo, jazz/pop heavyweight Jamie Cullum, SG Lewis, Lapalux, and Kat Edmonson, as well as fellow Canadian artists Basia Bulat, Calvin Love, and Juno Award-winning Lights.

Devore would like to encourage other female artists to take charge of their music. “I’d love to inspire other songwriters and another female multi-instrumentalist/producers. There aren’t many of us out there it seems, so I’d love to inspire more female musicians to self-produce”.

half and half is a collection of captivating soundscapes with velvety vocals, soothing melodies, and authentic lyricism.

Seven Eight

The first track that starts off the EP is “Seven Eight” which revisits the intense feelings from the start and finish of a relationship that never quite took off.

The brief intro is a slow, bright blend of synth and light percussion that immediately taps your attention. But then the soundscape downshifts and you can feel it slip into a heavier melody right before the first verse. Devore’s rich vocals take center stage laying out the lyrics in a clipped emphasis. You can hear the pensiveness in her voice as she recalls the beginning of a relationship. The tension slightly builds with an elongated note at the end of the verse and rises dramatically into the chorus.

The chorus shifts to uptempo and you feel like you’re in a whirling in a glass case of emotions. Devore’s bright vocals float above the melody beautifully without rushing to match it. She paints lyrically the feelings of a relationship that never really got going and having to relinquish it.

Coming out of the chorus and into the second verse, Devore tapers off her vocals softly and you can feel yourself drop back into the previous unharried melody. A mellow synth and bright percussion solo ensue, washing over you like a wave of calm. Devore’s vocals with an underlying melancholy soak up the verse as she questions what happened to the relationship but is perhaps comforted by what she once had.

The last chorus has a surprise twist from the previous two lyrically. She wonders now not about what was lost but at what cost came this relationship that headed nowhere. Devore laments how these thoughts haunt her and stay with her after previously believing they held her up so she could fight on through. The track finishes off by coming full circle back to the soothing almost meditative synth and percussion solo from the beginning.

Effortlessly

The track “Effortlessly” is a standout song that demonstrates how a relationship that began so effortlessly can end the same way when you feel your lover has a change of heart.

The deep bassline punctuated with bright keys emulates an R&B vibe as it opens the song. Devore’s velvety vocals come right in with the first verse, holding your attention as her voice glides over the lush soundscape. There’s an underlying sadness in her voice you can sense as she realizes her lover’s interest is no longer there.

At the end of the verse, the song abruptly stops for a second and the melody changes upon entering into the chorus. There is no tension to release but it does become brighter, punctuated with subtle finger snaps. This mirrors the transition heard in Devore’s emotive vocals as she goes from being previously melancholy to reminiscing about the effortless attraction. But then she pivots and shows that her lover is obviously having second thoughts.

This emotional slide continues into the next verse as Devore sullenly holds out hope. But in the end, she sees the signs are there as her lover has broken their promises and the relationship, like her lover, are gone. Then she heads back into the chorus followed by a synth/keyboard/percussion solo with Devore adding a few beautiful vocalizations.

Then it’s back to the chorus and straight into the final verse. Here, Devore showcases once again her silky vocals as she tells her lover that they’ll never know the truth. She plays up the word “truth” with gentle up and down emphasis and cleverly ends with her repeats of the words “never know/never know/no” which gives you the feeling she is taunting her lover.

A Cause

“A Cause” is a standout track that examines looking to the past to find a cause for something when there is none.

The intro has a melody that mimics your heartbeat with a robust bassline and warm electro synth. Entering quietly is Devore’s velvety textured vocals floating above the mesmerizing soundscape, that will capture you from the start. In the first verse, you can hear the deep reflection in her voice as she examines time gone past.

Heading into the chorus, there is no vocal release of anticipation or any stratospheric vocals. Instead, you can feel Devore’s vocals shift emotionally, mirroring the warm melody, as they take on a slightly brighter, determined tone when she declares she’ll find the cause she’s been searching for.

Exiting the chorus you are carried away into the flowing synth and pulsing bass solo. At the end of the solo, going into the next verse, you can feel the bassline shift its intensity as it recedes to the background. The synth melody ebbs and flows effortlessly, punctuated with delicate finger snaps on the downbeat.

The next verse lyrically feels cryptic and vocally ethereal as she pretends everything is fine as she reaches back into the past for answers. Devore reinforces this feeling with a firm emphasis on each word like a stepping stone while beautifully elongating some words. This vocal style continues with the last verse after another ride along with the chorus.

Next, there is a warm synth and heavy bassline intermission which then melds into the last chorus. Then it appears again but as an unhurried solo that gently fades away to end the track.

Breathing Room

The acoustic track “Breathing Room” is a captivating song about giving your heart both space and time to heal.

A quiet but upbeat acoustic guitar melody taps you briefly on the shoulder as the intro. The first verse is short in words but long on visuals, broken in half by beautiful guitar strumming. Devore’s vocals envelop the sadness as she chronicles the estrangement she feels with a broken heart. From here, she glides into the lyrically two sentence chorus where you step into a different world.

In the chorus, everything morphs into a mesmerizing soundscape. Devore’s deep, honey-dipped vocals send you off into a dream-like state of mind. Calmness and genuine warmth exude in her delivery as she advises to “give your heart some breathing room”. The acoustic guitar solo following the chorus and in between verses brilliantly creates this feeling.

In the last verse, Devore lightens up her vocals lined with frustration when dealing with the person or situation that has broken your heart. This is carried into the second line of the chorus when the lyrics point to self-blame and assumption. But she rallies you right back in the next verse.

After the second repeat of the chorus, there is a somber instrumental. Then Devore’s haunting vocals come back for one last refrain. The final minutes of the song circle back to the guitar intro ending with a gentle but defining last strum.

When I Go Home

The last track on the EP, “When I Go Home”, encapsulates the warm welcome that you experience when you return home.

The song’s intro, a slow pulsating bassline overlaying a synth, melds softly into Devore’s angelic voice. Her vocals feel like they envelop you as they blend in with the comforting soundscape. You’re carried gently along with Devore’s beautiful delivery of the lyrics. She creates a sensation of the warmth you experience when returning home after being away for a long time.

This atmosphere is wonderfully carried further with the mini solo within the first verse. There is no tension leading up to the chorus, no detection of a change melodically up ahead. It is in the chorus where Devore’s vocals lift up to a slightly higher reach hinting at an underlying strength waiting in the wings.

The lyrics are a bit cryptic but they mirror the ambiance Devore vocally creates. They seem to describe the solace of being home where you feel comforted, rejuvenated, and protected, whether that’s with people or the home itself.

The song heads into a haunting solo after the last verse. The wind sound emanating from the synth sweeps you up and quickly back down. The synth’s elongated notes create a relaxing endless loop. Devore breaks in with the last chorus and then the song ends with a lovely spotlighted synth.

Fuels, In A Way

Rounding out the EP are the tracks “Fuels” and “In A Way”. The laid-back track “Fuels” explores how you reflect over past events looking for a reason to make sense of everything. The buoyant acoustic track “In A Way” laments the realization you can be with someone but feel alone.

Highly Recommended. Deanna Devore has a gift for writing songs that lure you in with intriguing soundscapes and authentic lyrics. Her captivating vocals stand out for their soothing texture that doesn’t need to reach soaring heights. half and half is a listening experience you will want to add to your playlist.

Buy/Download half and half on all major platforms worldwide including iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play, and Amazon

Stream on Spotify, Soundcloud, and other platforms.

Three powerful women bring boleros to a sparkling LA night

By Linda Garnett

Three powerful women bring boleros to a sparkling LA night.

by Patrick O’Heffernan

(Los Angeles) When asked about the “pure bolero”, Martha Gonzalez, one of the singers at the female-led 4^th Annual Boleros de Noche concert last Friday night and an Assistant Professor of Chicana/o Latina/o Studies at Scripps College, replied, “I would venture to say that there never was a pure Bolero – it has always been in transition…it responds to humanity and our plight and our visions of what love is, or isn’t or was”.

Whether or not there ever was a pure Bolero, at its core the form is beautiful music about love. That beauty shimmered and sailed through downtown Los Angeles Friday night as three Los Angeles-based boleritas – Martha Gonzales, Rocio Mendoza of Tres Souls, and Margarita Luna — took over the stage at La Plaza for The 4^th Annual Boleros de Noche. The three and half hour program of music and conversation kept the capacity audience on the 30,000 square-feet of gardens, lawn and outdoor stage happy and singing to last joyful note despite the chilly night and hard wooden chairs.

When asked about changes she has seen in local audiences in her 20 years of singing Boleros, Margarita Luna, the bolerista who opened the show said, “people were more relaxed in the past…now it takes longer for me to put them in the mood to be relaxed”. That did seem to be true as people filed in through La Plaza’s metal art sculptured gates and hurried to get food and drink and a spot on one of the wooden or plastic chairs. But as soon as Emcee Eddie Padilla took the microphone, you could feel the thoughts of traffic and parking and finding friends and food begin to melt away. By the time Luna flashed her 1000-watt smile from the stage, chatted a bit in Spanish, and then filled the space with her first bolero, the audience was fully relaxed.

She sang a highly energetic Bolero in Spanish, accompanied by a piano, fast-moving violin, and Latin percussion. After comments in English, she slowed the tempo for a classic bolero with a gentle rhythm and plenty of opportunity for her wide-ranging voice to sail out of the band shell to the street. She moved back to Spanish and the Latin beats, her body swaying to the congas and cáhon while her lyrics intertwined with the violin before picking up the guitar, sitting down and caressing the audience with a soft, crooning Bolero that broke hearts in any language. But for her final song she couldn’t contain herself – the Cuban rhythms came out full force in a Bolero that was both romantic and sexy, and very danceable.

After the stage was reset, and the audience had time to refill at the bars and refuel at the cocinas, Emcee Eddie Padilla introduced Tres Souls, a beloved institution in the LA Latino music and Bolero community. Their self-titled album, released appropriately on Valentine’s Day, provided many of their songs that filled the La Plaza, with Rocio Mendoza’s powerful voice intertwining with stunning flamenco-style guitar picking by Jesús Martinez and moved along rhythmically by maracas and Roberto Carlos guitar strum. The band is leading a revival of “Trio Romántico,” music, the vintage sounds and songs of the 1940s -1960s Bolero style that was popular during the ‘Golden Era of Mexican Cinema” But it is not all nostalgia; guitarist Roberto Carlos points out that their Boleros Made In LA that “ we preserve classical sound but I have added electric guitars and reverbs, big, big reverbs…fusion is a beautiful thing”. A quick look at their album validates that; along with classic sounds like “Mi Amor” and “La Luna Eres Tu”, there is a joyful Bolero of the 1965 Temptations song “My Girl”.

When Emcee Padilla introduced Martha Gonzalez, you could tell virtually everyone in the audience knew and loved her. It took a few moments for folks to settle down from the clapping and cheering when Gonzales came on stage with an all-star band: Alberto Salas on piano, Joey De Leon on percussion, the amazing Artie Webb on flute, and Dante Pascuzzo on bass. She was later joined by her brother, the singer Gabriel Gonzalez, and her young son, Sandino Gonzalez-Flores, who played the flute and joined her on vocals. She set the stage for magic, and she delivered.

“I think that together we are transported to this moment of love and heartache and anger and rejoicing”, Gonzales muses about the effect of Boleros on an audience. That was clear from the audience response to Luna and Tres Souls; they knew many of the songs and got lost in them. “The Bolero is very a generous genre to the singer – I am not doing much, I am interpreting, but then everyone knows the song”, Gonzales says, explaining the love that floats back and forth from stage to audience in Bolero. She says one reason for this is that “Bolero is one of the few genres where men can be really sensitive and poetic” – accounting for the many unembarrassed tenors in the audience.

Gonzalez treated the audience to a full set of eight classic-style Boleros. With slow, sensuous Latin rhythms on the congas and percussion, bright accent melodies on Artie Webb’s luminescent flute, she fashioned heart-wrenching musical tales with a voice so powerful that every nuance reached the back rows. Her son Sandino joined her for three songs, at one point slow dancing with his mother while he sang and in another song, accompanying Webb on the flute. Her bother Gabriel joined her in a classic duet while Sandino played the flute with the band. Family magic at its best, under the stars and twinkling lights in an island of music and love in the center of downtown Los Angeles. Gonzalez may be right that there never was a pure Bolero, but Boleros de Noche was a night of pure pleasure.

Patrick O’Heffernan. Host, Music FridayLive!,

Video: Margarita Luna – Boleros de Noche, Los Angeles

Video: Martha Gonzales – Boleros de Noche, Los Angeles

review

Seven Eight

Effortlessly

A Cause

Breathing Room

When I Go Home

Fuels, In A Way

Footer

More Info

Search

Newsletter Sign-Up