Lila Downs is an artist who always seemed to have her act together. The Mexican-American singer has a stunning voice, a confident multicultural vision grounded in her Mixtec Indian roots and a successful 15-year career in world music circles. What she doesn't have is a child.
Don’t call Alsarah the princess of Nubian pop. That’s what The Guardian did in 2013, when it interviewed the Sudan-born, Yemen-raised, and Brooklyn-based East African retro pop singer. The publication lauded her “powerful voice and eclectic mix of north and east African tunes, as well as Arabic sounds and traditions.” Alsarah laughs when I mention the article.
When Pat Metheny calls someone “the greatest guitarist alive,” it’s probably a good idea to sit up and listen. That’s what Seattleites should do... when Vicente Amigo comes to Meany Hall at the University of Washington. This 48-year-old flamenco artist from Cordoba, Spain, has collaborated with Sting, John McLaughlin and Milton Nascimento; won a 2001 Latin Grammy Award for his panoramic work “Ciudad de las Ideas (City of Ideas)”;
The flamenco guitarist Vicente Amigo, from Seville, Spain, has called his engagement with his instrument “beloved torture.” You can imagine why when you hear him play: He reaches for depth of expression within ultimate precision, and sometimes at frightening speed.
Vicente Amigo is known as a man of few words. His music has long spoken for him. Few people on the planet, in this sense, speak as beautifully. “Playing my music is what speaks best for me,” Amigo said in an interview...
When Daymé Arocena took the stage on Monday night for her Los Angeles debut, the 22-year-old looked resplendent in a white dress and matching headwrap. The backing band for the Havana singer and composer was already out in front of her at the Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, winding up to play her regal song “Madres" and begin a tour of contemporary rumba and ambitious Afro-Cuban jazz.
Cuban soul singer Daymé Arocena’s booming alto is boundless. From her days as a choir student and conductor at Havana’s prestigious Amadeo Roldan Conservatory to collaborations with Canadian flutist/bandleader Jane Bunnett and British producer Gilles Peterson to the release in 2015 of her well-received full-length debut, Nueva Era, the Afro-Cuban singer/songwriter has emerged as a global ambassador of Cuban music.
But Ms. Arocena’s songs were above all about mutability. The only certainty was that they would end up a long way from where they began. Introspection gradually, and naturally, evolved into drama or exultancy;
Hough’s scintillating technique and characteristically sparkling sound can perhaps be assumed these days, though of course they never should be. What gripped the attention from start to finish as well, however, was the high seriousness of the playing and the imaginative intelligence that Hough brought to the programme and its individual parts.
What is not a coincidence is that the Taiwan Philharmonic, which is known at home as the National Symphony Orchestra, or NSO, is a first-rate ensemble, one of Asia's best. This season the orchestra celebrates its 30th anniversary, yet it has little profile outside of Asia.
