Text and photographs by Sylvia Mallory.
Our first show of Season 2 featured the rousing pan-Latin music of Sol y Canto, showcasing Puerto Rican/Argentine vocalist Rosi Amador on the cajón, bongos, and traditional percussion instruments, and her husband, New Mexico native Brian Amador, on vocals and guitar. Accompanying them was Spanish-born cellist-vocalist Queralt Giralt Soler. The ensemble’s complex three-part vocal harmonies, powered by Rosi’s pitch-perfect voice, held the enthusiastic audience in sway.
The band treated the packed Reed Room listeners to a selection of original songs covering everything from romantic love and brown rice cookery to songs to sing while milking cows. Social issues came to the fore in selections like “La Burbuja” (“The Bubble”), “El Muro” (“The Wall”), and “One Step Forward” (a rare English language tune for the ensemble). Tastefully sprinkled into the mix was the delightful classic pop song “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás” (“Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps”), as well as entertaining, often intimate stories and poems composed by Brian.
The Amadors shared that the New Song concert capped the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of Sol y Canto. They had begun singing together some ten years before that as Flor de Cana and had appeared at the original New Song Coffeehouse (1985–2008), where some in the audience had seen them perform.
With Season 2 off to an electrifying start, we look forward to welcoming Rob Flax’s Boom Chick Trio to the stage on October 18!