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Her
story begins in Big Indian, a tiny village perched among the
Catskill mountains, although she didn't stay there long. Lhasa's
(full name Lhasa de Sela) idealistic and unconventional parents
rejected routine and stability, preferring to follow life wherever
it might lead them. For seven years, the family would crisscross
the United States and Mexico in a converted school bus, Lhasa’s
first chapter in a long experience of the road. Her father was
a writer and teacher who would work in construction or picking
fruit, when he had to; her mother was a photographer. Travelling
with them and her three sisters, it was her early contacts with
books, fairy tales, radio drama and passing landscapes that
shaped her imagination. Even at the time, she knew how lucky
she was to be spending her childhood as she was, although the
freedom entailed uncertainty, as well. The soundtrack to those
years was a medley of the American and Mexican classics loved
by her father, and the Latin, Arab, Eastern European and Asian
music her mother would listen to.
San Francisco, mid '80s. At 13, Lhasa took to the stage of a
Greek café to sing Billie Holliday ballads and Mexican
tunes a cappella. There, she gradually discovered the power
of her voice to convey thoughts and emotions she was only beginning
to experience herself.
Six years later, the road led north, to Montreal. It was there
that she met guitarist and producer Yves Desrosiers. For close
to five years, they performed together in downtown bars, a collaboration
that evolved into original material that eventually took form
in La Llorona, an album that centered on the persona of a tearful
siren of Aztec mythology who would bewitch men with her heart-rending
melodies. Infused with a certain nouvelle nostalgie, the album
exuded the fragrances of Mexico and the colors of the Romany,
full of sensuality and striking instrumentation. Released in
February 1997, the Spanish-language album was immediately recognized
for its sparkling originality. Hundreds of thousands worldwide
were transported by the even, throaty voice that delivered such
mysterious poetry above the rich arrangements, heady like incense.
The first impact was in Quebec, where Lhasa began to fill halls
and ultimately win the "Félix" for "Artiste
québécois - musique de monde" in 1997. Then
followed the rest of Canada, where she went platinum, selling
110,000 albums and winning a Juno for Best Global Artist, in
1998. Then came the U.S. and Europe, especially France, where
La Llorona went “triple disc d’or,” with 300,000
flying off the shelves. Lhasa and her band toured relentlessly
for several years, throughout Europe and North America, where
her concerts were as acclaimed as the album had been. The demand
for live appearances steadily increased.
On the eve of the 21st Century, Lhasa decided to take a break
from touring and consider what might be next. Realizing that
she needed to distance herself from her life as a singer, she
decided to travel to France to fulfill her childhood dream of
performing with her three sisters, all circus performers. They
met up in Bourgogne and created a show together, which premiered
in the summer of 1999. The contrast between the life of a touring
musician who sees the world fly by with never the time to savor
the places and people along the way and the circus life, travelling
in the company of family and friends, sharing trailers and assembling
and dismantling the big top and bleachers, provided a welcome
opportunity for the singer to replenish her inner resources.
When the circus tour had ended, Lhasa arrived at a new chapter
in her life: Marseille, the ancient port city, where half the
titles for her new album would be born.
In 2002, now back in Montreal where her career had begun, she
re-united with François Lalonde, drummer, percussionist
and sound engineer on La Llorona, and Jean Massicotte, pianist
who had also contributed to the mixing of her first release.
They were to co-produce her second album, The Living Road, already
much anticipated on both sides of the Atlantic.
Where La Llorona revolves around a mythical siren, The Living
Road centers on the metaphor of life as a road. A gathering
of original titles sung in Spanish, English and French, the
album bridges physical distances as it links the musical traditions
of the present and the past. Lhasa’s voice and lyrics
cross borders freely. The melodies themselves are timeless and
the rhythms textured. And in every song can be found Lhasa’s
clear conviction that life is a living road, that nothing repeats
itself, and that nothing is ordinary.
"That’s what inspires each of the songs on the album,"
says Lhasa. "The mysterious force that doesn't let us box
ourselves in, that compels us to keep changing. The road is
alive, we can't freeze or stop it. And we know can't."
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THE
LIVING ROAD
NETTWERK
2004 |
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