Encantamento
The Living Road - Lhasa de Sela
A última nómada...
A perfeição em estado puro, especialmente para quem já a admirava desde 1998 aquando do lançamento do impressionante «La Llorona» e teve oportunidade de estar presente em Julho no concerto do Forum Lisboa.
Fica aqui uma crónica publicada, por alguém presente no memorável concerto, num site que pode ser considerado quase semi-oficial e que ilustra na perfeição o momento único vivido nesse dia:
Sometimes there are good surprises, sometimes there are bad surprises, and sometimes perfect things happen when you know they will happen, like the flowers bloom in spring time. And Lhasa is not certainly just the flower... she is the ground, she is the child of a natural, unknown and kind God, she's 'under him and the sky up above him'... she's so much more than words can express. I have known Lhasa's music for quite some time now, since 1998 wih the release of 'La llorona' and I cannot say that the record changed my life, but I can say that it came when my life was changing, and that, as NIna Nastasia's 'the blackened air' and Anja Garbarek's 'Smiling & Waving' helped me changing along. The musicians and Lhasa came on stange somewhat nervous, and the sound was not so good as one could expect, but Lhasa was calm, confident and so wonderfully expressive that the sound just... calmed down. I think every one in that room was bewitched by her sincerity, her honesty, her voice... and the musicians ( that she so wonderfully presented) were not only amazing at playing, but also as people.
Lhasa was trying to speak in portuguese (not fluent, but she did it) and eaven translated a thought her father told her once ( that eventually gave place to the song 'soon this place will be too small' where he says that death is not the end, but only the beginning... beautiful.
But when she said that she would sing in Portuguese, a portuguese song I wasn't ready to hear 'meu amor (meu limão de amargura)' one of my favourite songs ( sung by portugues fado best known and loved singer Amália Rodrigues) and she changed it from fado to a song so emotional, so different from the original that I started crying... and just raised and cried and applauded her at the end of that song. She said she didn't quite understand the words.. so here it goes, a rough translation of my favourite bit of the song...
Meu amor, meu limão de amargura
Words: José Carlos Ary dos Santos
Music: Alain Oulman
Este mar não tem cura, This ocean has no cure,
Este céu não tem ar, This sky has no air,
Nós parámos o vento, We have stopped the wind,
Não sabemos nadar. We don't know how to swim.
E morremos, morremos And we die, we die
Devagar, devagar... Slowly, slowly...
So, above all, it was one of the best concerts i've ever been to.. as well as one of the most emotional and pure... Lhasa thank you.
(here is the setlist for the concert)
1) Con toda palabra
2) La Marée Haute
3) La frontera
4) J'arrive à la ville (for her grandfather)
5) * a typical song from Chechenia ' an unhappy small country'*
6) Floricanto
7) Small song
8- Anywhere on this road
9) Meu amor ( meu limão de amargura)
10) De cara a la pared
11) La confession
12) El desierto
13) Pa' llegar a tu lado (just agonizing, haunting... perfect!)
14) My name
15) Para el fin del mundo o el ano nuevo
16) La celestina
17) Los peces ( everyone jumping and singing.. all the songs were pretty different from the albuns, but this one got even better eheh)
18- Soon this space will be too small
And that's all from me...
Enjoy Lhasa... and be born again.
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