Here's a video--you can listen while you read.
So, Gabo Ferro. This guy's great. He has an amazing voice, somewhat high and piercing, but also intense and somehow honest. He also has a great backstory. (I've written about him before, so skip ahead if you know this stuff.) In the 90's, he was the lead singer for a hardcore band called Porco. I've finally heard some of their music (thanks, Diego), and it's about what you'd expect. Apparently, the lyrics are quite smutty (with all that noise and shouting, I can't make out a word.) Anyway, Porco was getting bigger and bigger, but Gabo was growing less and less happy with the music scene. Finally, one night in 97, in the middle of a concert, he stopped singing, put down the microphone, and walked off stage. That was the end of Porco. Gabo decided to go back to university, where he got his PhD in history. Got awards for his doctorate (Images of Vampirism in the Second Government of Rosas.) Then a couple of years ago, he started writing and singing songs again, but in a completely different style. Think modern troubador.
He's not well-known here, but his fame is growing and he has an enthusiastic following. I was especially impressed by the crowd at the first concert I saw at La Trastienda. Mostly young (20's-30's), but remarkably respectful. They sang along at times, but with the most surprising songs. They knew the words to some of his gentlest music. Some of his songs touch on gay themes, and though the crowd was clearly not very gay, they gave one of their warmest responses to a song about name-calling and labeling (The lyric "niño costerera y niña carpintero" uses wrong genders to make a point: "boy seamstress and girl carpenter.") They were also excellent clappers, which they didn't do too much, but when they did, they had that great double-clap rhythm down cold, so it actually sounded good. And they knew to stop when the rhythm changed.
I'd love to hear him in New York. I can so easily see him at Joe's Pub—I'm tempted to write their booking coordinator a note. Anyway, here are the lyrics to the song above, in case you're interested.
| Sobre madera rosa Tengo un mandala pintado en Jaipur bajo un vaso con agua con dos gotas de gin Una trampa cazadora de espíritus del Japón y un espejo que atesora el origen del sueño Una muñequita vudu con los miembros zurcidos con pelo de cabra negra Una pulsera con semillas sagradas florecidas y perfumadas Tengo un manuscrito sin rótulos ni tapas con grabados de una mujer partida en tres Una mascara del Durbán y una rueda mágica enlazada a un asno Una falda turca de un ajuar y un retrato grabado sobre madera rosa Serenidad escrito en una lengua muerta con sangre de niño y de casadera Y sobre un formidable insecto embalsamado con los ojos picados por querer aparearse Con las alas cuarteadas y todavía con sangre una imagen tuya conmigo fuera de plano. | On Pink Wood I have a mandala painted in Jaipur under a glass of water with two drops of gin a jacket with spirits from Japan and a mirror that holds the origin of sleep A voodoo doll with darned limbs and black goat hair A watch with sacred seeds flowering and perfumed I have a manuscript without titles or covers with engravings of a woman in three parts A mask from Durbán and a magic wheel connected to a donkey A Turkish skirt from a trousseau and a portrait engraved on pink wood Serenity written in a dead language with blood from a boy and a young woman and over an impressive embalmed insect with eyes that sting with the urge to mate and quartered wings still bleeding An image of you with me out of the picture. |
No comments:
Post a Comment