A guitar, a wooden box and a dark Iberian goddess dressed in pleated black crepe, with a voice that growled, whooped, ululated, and tore open fresh wounds only to stick its probing tongue in and have a feel around, unpicking the seams that held our emotions in tact for about an hour and a half ... leaving us exhilirated and feverishly exhausted at the same time.
Most of her material is in Spanish and at one point she expressed her "concern" that we didn't understand what she was singing, but then on reflection, emotion is a universal language, and the power of the music and her delivery would have been sufficient to convey her meaning. And convey that meaning she did! And she made us feel it too!
The highlight for me was her version of Abbey Lincoln's "Throw It Away" wherein she wrenched every simple nuance out of the song's lyrical economy.
"Throw it away
Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
Each and every day
Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
Each and every day
And keep your hand wide open
Let the sun shine through
'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you"
Let the sun shine through
'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you"
As RA said at the end of it all ... "so raw"! Indeed. If you ever get a chance to see her live, do it. It was magical.
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