International Women’s Day – Celebrating Women’s Voices

International Women’s Day is being celebrated this month of March. I’ve seen some powerful performances from some of our esteemed hermanas/sisters these last few weeks: Buika, Tribalistas with Marisa Monte, Susana Baca and Christelle Durandy.  Concha Buika continues to expand her musical vision with the help of her new top-notch all female group.  Weaving in the musical colors of  Jazz, Reggae and other world music into her special brand of Flamenco, Buika was in fine voice and her music was mesmerizing…  Coming off the heels of their latest album, Brazilian supergroup Tribalistas consisting of vocalist/guitarist Marisa Monte, vocalist Arnaldo Antunes and vocalist/percussionist Carlinhos Brown played a wonderful set of new material and classics from their first recording.  Monte, colorfully dressed in a mix of Carnaval inspired and avant grade costumes, sang beautifully in her solo pieces and added those beautiful harmonies in the group setting….   Susana Baca whose magical, spellbinding presence graces the concert stages, made a rare appearance at Berkeley’s Freight and Salvage as part of the John Santos’ curated series “Raises”.  The sold out crowd was treated to an evening full of graceful ballads, Afro-Peruvian lullabies and special moments when the band added an inspired montuno and percussive fire freeing Baca to dance with joy and abandon.  It was a special evening to savor Baca’s pristine voice and warm presence which solidly connected with the audience…  Parisian/Cuban import Christelle Durandy is a vocal force of nature that has been showcased with the likes of Rumbache, Pacific Mambo Orchestra and the Cabanijazz Project since she arrived to the Bay Area a few years ago.  She was sitting in with Anthony Blea’s Afro-Cuban Quartet and Friends at Oakland’s Bar Cesar and tore it up.  Durandy is a fine vocalist and a top notch sonera in her own right.  Her improvised inspiraciones were on target that evening both delighting the audience and members of Blea’s group who showed their enthusiasm for Durandy’s soneos.  She told me that she is preparing to come out with her own music in the near future.