Call Me Al

There's no point skipping out of free concerts. So Wednesday night, I went down for my 3rd Luminato event. I was surprised at the sparseness of the crowd for Alejandra Ribera, given that she sold out The Royal a few months back. Perhaps the threat of pouring rain kept everyone home.

This Canadian-Chilean songstress sang in English and Spanish, with a smattering of French thrown in. Her English tunes were pop, with hints of Jazz in the scat and arrangements. Her Spanish numbers had more traditional Latin rhythm but still had her distinctive phrasing. She looked totally committed to her material, often seemingly transported away. At first, she reminded me of Bjork with the rolled consonants in her singing, her gangly arm movements, and a scattershot approach to stage banter. But ultimately she was a cross between the ethereal alto of Sarah McLachlan and the throaty bray of Shakira.

The second act wasn't quite so magnetic. The intro to Keys In The Street sounded good: noted classical pianist Angela Hewitt collaborates with urban dancers. But the execution was poor. The repertoire started with safe choices including Claire De Lune (Debussy). But that was preferable to the bulk of the material which was The Goldberg Variations, a puzzling choice for both a mass audience and urban dance styles. The exact and finicky Bach pieces did not fit with dancers. Only the pop-and-locker with his body isolation and glides seemed in touch with the pieces. The performance seemed disjointed since the dancers only wandered on stage now and then in between long stretches of piano. Added to that risible projections: starts, swirling spirals, and actual cards denoting the current style (freestyle, hustle, etc.) and the whole thing felt like a high school assembly demo. This seemed like it was created by a committee of "squares" looking to engage the "yutes".