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'Women of Latin America' bring heart, rhythm to UT
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Knoxville News-Sentinel, 'Women of Latin America' bring heart, rhythm to UT >>
One doesn't often see a crowd of forty- to sixty-somethings and college kids all tuned to the same rhythmic beat.
But Saturday night at the University Center Auditorium at the University of Tennessee, the "Latinas: Women of Latin America" concert had everyone in sync.
On tour with Putumayo World Music were three generations of South American women with vocal music of their own countries, presented in different generational styles.
The youngest was Brazilian pop singer Belo Velloso, whose styles included samba, bossa nova and Afro-Latin music from her native state of Bahia.
With a band of guitarists Ana Flavia Miziara and Sergio Murilo Pandolfi, along with percussionist Luis Carlos de Paula, Velloso sang the heart out of "Samba do Grande Amor," "Toda Sexta Feira" and "De Salvador," all of which had pulsating dance rhythms.
Noted Chilean singer Mariana Montalvo sings with the heart of a romantic and the soul of a revolutionary. Living in exile in Paris for the past 30 years because of her political activism against the military regime of Augusto Pinochet, Montalvo takes over a stage by the sheer force of her personality, as well as her superb musicianship.
She has one of those voices that is inherently musical and could easily serve as its own accompaniment.
Together with guitarist Pierre Bluteau and flutist Olivier Ombredane, Montalvo's trio presented Andean music that was vibrant and full of energy.
"Danza" was a hardy dance tune about how the heart sometimes has a mind of its own. In "Sud Americano" Ombredane's pan pipes supported Montalvo's lyrics about the spirit of being South American.
So did "Gracias a la Vida," another song from the Andes. For it, Montalvo accompanied herself on the charango, a type of tiny soprano guitar.
The matriarch of the concert was Toto la Momposina, a hot-wired grandmother who, together with her six-member band, sang and danced to the music of the native Indians of Colombia.
One of the best pieces was a percussion-driven version of "Tres Golpes" that had the audience clapping to its rhythms.
But then, her "Sal Yo Me Llamo Colombia" really got to the heart of the matter of what it means to be Colombian.
-- Harold Duckett 10/31/04
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