A beguiling songstress

The Halifax Jazz Festival is in full swing (pun intended!). Sunday night I went to a performance by Keren Ann, the Parisian singer now living in New York. She has a beautiful, deep voice and her phrasing is exquisite. She kept the audience waiting for each word. And she used the microphone like an instrument. It was a mesmerizing performance. I bought her new recording, Nolita, the next day.

She seemed very young, in her manner, looks, presentation, and I thought she was probably twenty-one, no more than twenty-four, but I read today that she is thirty-one, which in that field is not too young. I had heard a Montreal musician saying (on the radio) that he prefers to listen to English songs over his native French ones because French music is about the poetry, with long involved lyrics. English songs, on the other hand, are about the music, the beat. Where else could you make a song that repeats one sentence over and over and over. (�She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah�) Keren Ann�s lyrics and style didn�t have a lot of variety, but they did have a sensitivity that was enchanting. I�m looking forward to hearing what she does next.

Posted by leya at July 19, 2005 06:12 PM