Osburnt: Dispatches From a Life Seared by the Arts

  • Nellie McKay

    Nellie McKay

    Let us now praise Nellie McKay, the walking definition of one-of-a-kind, defier of genres and categories, contemporizer of the old-fashioned, nostalgizer of the new, wittifier of the tragic, and profundizer of the trivial. There is no one cleverer, or more likable, words like “talented” were invented in the vain hope that they might describe her.…

  • Under the Greenwood Tree

    Under the Greenwood Tree

    The cross-dressing heroines of Shakespeare’s comedies create a new social relation by virtue of their masquerades and the secret knowledge they hold. They are thus empowered to influence events to a degree otherwise unpermitted of their sex, and so fulfill Beatrice’s repeated plaint in Much Ado About Nothing: “O that I were a man.” The…

  • Prisma

    Prisma

    I waited a few days to listen to Camila Meza’s PRISMA, the release of which she celebrated last week at the Kitano. The recording is more than representative of her great talent, exceeding my expectations, which were high to begin with. She has transported the ethereal vibe of her earlier work, which always seemed to…

  • Tango House

    Tango House

    It is a cliché in criticism to call something a gem, but here you have it: the show at TANGO HOUSE is a gem. It is small, can be taken in at a glance, is faceted, fitted to the space, the talent, and the audience, and of undoubted value and elegance. I have now seen…

  • Por el agua de Granada

    Por el agua de Granada

    Before time overcomes the memory, I should say something about the presentation last Thursday by Lara Bello and Erik Kurimski of their new CD of folk songs collected by the Spanish poet García Lorca. What I knew going in was that Bello is the ideal interpreter of the material. I have heard her before in…

  • Tangolandó

    Tangolandó

    I have said so much about Sofía Tosello as a tango singer, and about the Afro-Peruvian fusion project, Tangolandó, of which she is half, that I assumed last Sunday at the Blue Note that I would snap a picture for social media, promulgate a caption, and let it go at that. But it remains true…

  • Harmony in Process

    Harmony in Process

    Among the visual artists producing work to the music of the Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet at HARMONY IN PROCESS Saturday night at ShapeShifter Lab was Patti Maciesz, who sat center stage and made little illustrated tags for the audience in response to what she was hearing and seeing. This is the one she handed to…

  • Willie Colón

    Willie Colón

    I assumed that seeing Willie Colón: La Historia last Saturday at the Lehman Center in the Bronx would be entirely new territory for me, and I was uncertain whether I would be able to follow my usual practice of publishing a few notes when I see a performer that I enjoy, find interesting, or otherwise…

  • La Chicana

    La Chicana

    Last week was my second time seeing La Chicana at the Buenos Aires tango spot called Torquato Tasso. This innovative band was founded by Dolores Solá, Acho Estol and Juan Valverde in 1995, but what defines them for me is the metallic resonance of Solá’s voice and the acerbic wit of her interpretations. That wit…

  • Cristina Pato

    Cristina Pato

    It’s not clear just how seriously to take the claim of the Iberian province of Galicia to Celtic heritage. There were some ancient settlements, the ruins of which can be seen today. The country’s name is related to “Gaelic” and to “Gales”, which is Spanish for “Wales”. But anyone who has looked into the subject…