I went to a great concert last night by my friend Gabo Ferro. I guess I can say that. We met because I introduced myself as a fan after an panel interview a couple of years ago. We've met for coffee a couple of times and he's very kind and easy to talk to.
His voice touches me in a way that very few singers do. Chris Connor comes to mind, who sadly passed away just a few weeks ago. The first time I heard her was at a theater department get-together at Hamilton in 1980 at professor Ed Barrett's house. He played Chris's Gershwin album and her voice sunk into me immediately and I still can't get enough of it.
The same thing with Gabo. When I first heard him here in a small multi-purpose theater/music space on Corrientes, I was instantly struck by the intensity and purity of his voice. I've since bought and love all of his albums, but the real experience is hearing him live. The best I can say is that hearing him sing makes me feel as if I can sing myself.
Here's a video of a live performance from his last CD, a biting cycle of break-up songs, all dealing with a bad bad split he went through the year before. This is called "Nube y Cielo" (Cloud and Sky) and the gist is that he's singing to his ex, saying that for a long time, he confused the clouds with the sky, mistaking his ex for the latter. Then the thunder comes along to wake him from his confusion. The ex tries to come back, but Gabo's awake now and he's not buying it. The simple, repeating chorus is variations on the words nube, cielo, trueno, y yo. (cloud, sky, thunder, and I) When you hear it live, it's breath-taking.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment