Elisa and Artistry: a lovely blend of coffee, cake and music

It was rushing last Friday to get to Artistry, I needed to run some errands post work and we had gather some information for an email that had we needed to send out. As I walked in, though, I was told the gig had just started so I was perfectly on time I guess. The title of the night was “Elisa Garcia – A musical Journey through the Americas”. Expectations of a wild samba and salsa evening were immediately corrected when I observed Elisa Garcia royally seated behind the microphone with an acoustic guitar in here hands. She was flanked, only, by Kailin Yong on violin and keyboard. 

The sets turned out to be filled with lovely Latin folk songs that Elisa sang with a deep warm voice, reminding me of Amalia Rodriguez. It perfectly match the earth tones of the coffee based painting of the exhibit Twig, Tops and Cup of Coffee by Yolande Law

One time she used a higher pitch to sing her English language love declaration for Kailin.  She sounded clear as tropic waters and yet reminded me of and Irish folk singer. Music choice and Elisa's voice were beautifully complemented by Kailin violin or sometimes keyboard that was set to sound like a harmonica. 

The audience, apparently quite a few from a Latin background, listened captivated and quietly, until and unless the music automatically pulled them into clapping and moving along, like it happens inevitably at Latin music events. 

 

And so the evening ended; in dance, mostly inspired by an excellent first time, on stage, electronic musical experiment by soundman Siva Sai Saravanan. 

Not a 100.000 love songs can keep a Latina on a seat for a whole evening!