When someone takes her talent and skills, marries them to a higher purpose, well.. there it is. Gina Chavez, an Austin folk artist with a Latina twist, spent 8 months in El Salvador-- in a gang-dominated suburb of San Salvador-- doing mission work: teaching English to girls, living with 15 nuns, and of course singing in between.. and then held a benefit concert back in Austin tonight to help pay for 4 specific girls to go to college. When it costs $60 a month to attend college in El Salvador, a benefit concert in the USA actually makes a difference. We even got to see and hear the girls talk about their dreams to study-- Gina brought a slide show of her mission work and film clips of the girls: Esme, Marta, Sofia y Xiomara!
Tonight we heard a pre-El-Salvador set and post-El-Salvador set, backed by Gina's band: Roel Martinez on lead guitar, Kenneth Null on electric and standup bass, and Sammy Foster on drums. The band continued to practice together while she was in El Salvador--> it shows, and she's psyched! The only other time I saw Gina play was in an intimate acoustic duo gig that was very folk-based, doing a back-and-forth song swap with a fellow singer/songwriter. The back-up from the full band tonight gave us the chance to hear more of of Gina's flavors, influences, and abilities-- with thoughtful accompaniments from the band throughout .
Gina is at root a singer-songwriter, folk by nature-- confessional, emotive, and at times playful- but she can take it in clearly different directions, and at times steps completely outside the box. The minute Gina opens her mouth, it's clear she was born with a voice made for singing. Her guitar-playing is consistently rhythmic, percussive, and clean-- likely under influence of Ani DiFranco, and like Ani, plays with no pick. Booya.
She opened jazzy, a song about being "so lonely", ending with not only creative and melodic skatting, but with a vocal/"trumpet" solo. We heard "Love Made Me Skinny", confessional folk-rock with heavy strumming-- also representin Ani with the knack for several movements of emotional crescendo and quietude within a song. The band got reggae on us for a number they wrote in Gina's absence, and Gina borrowed Gershwin's classic "Summertime" as an a capella introduction for another folk rocker. She got a little country on us with "Shortstack", complete with some call and response with the audience-- gimme some lovin-- and ended set 1 with possibly her signature song, the one that sets her apart from a 'standard' (if there is such a thing) folk singer: "Embrujo". (embrujo = spell, charm , magic) As guitar player she turned rhythmic mariachi and sang perfectly in Spanish.. the first time I saw this song was at the mellow folk-duo gig, and at certain points of the song, her whole family, who filled a table in the corner, started clapping sharply to the timing-- startlingly fun! Gina got us clapping too.. "Embrujo" was written after Gina studied abroad for 4 months in Argentina, written in an Argentine folk rhythm called "Chacarera".
Tonight we heard a pre-El-Salvador set and post-El-Salvador set, backed by Gina's band: Roel Martinez on lead guitar, Kenneth Null on electric and standup bass, and Sammy Foster on drums. The band continued to practice together while she was in El Salvador--> it shows, and she's psyched! The only other time I saw Gina play was in an intimate acoustic duo gig that was very folk-based, doing a back-and-forth song swap with a fellow singer/songwriter. The back-up from the full band tonight gave us the chance to hear more of of Gina's flavors, influences, and abilities-- with thoughtful accompaniments from the band throughout .
Gina is at root a singer-songwriter, folk by nature-- confessional, emotive, and at times playful- but she can take it in clearly different directions, and at times steps completely outside the box. The minute Gina opens her mouth, it's clear she was born with a voice made for singing. Her guitar-playing is consistently rhythmic, percussive, and clean-- likely under influence of Ani DiFranco, and like Ani, plays with no pick. Booya.
She opened jazzy, a song about being "so lonely", ending with not only creative and melodic skatting, but with a vocal/"trumpet" solo. We heard "Love Made Me Skinny", confessional folk-rock with heavy strumming-- also representin Ani with the knack for several movements of emotional crescendo and quietude within a song. The band got reggae on us for a number they wrote in Gina's absence, and Gina borrowed Gershwin's classic "Summertime" as an a capella introduction for another folk rocker. She got a little country on us with "Shortstack", complete with some call and response with the audience-- gimme some lovin-- and ended set 1 with possibly her signature song, the one that sets her apart from a 'standard' (if there is such a thing) folk singer: "Embrujo". (embrujo = spell, charm , magic) As guitar player she turned rhythmic mariachi and sang perfectly in Spanish.. the first time I saw this song was at the mellow folk-duo gig, and at certain points of the song, her whole family, who filled a table in the corner, started clapping sharply to the timing-- startlingly fun! Gina got us clapping too.. "Embrujo" was written after Gina studied abroad for 4 months in Argentina, written in an Argentine folk rhythm called "Chacarera".
During the break we learned about two meaningful organizations: Eco-Viva, which focuses on assisting village communities in El Salvador achieve economic self-sufficiency, earthly sustainability, social justice, and peace-- their area of focus is El Salvador's largest protected area (Lower Lempa River Basin and Bay of Jiquilisco)... and right here in Austin, the Worker's Defense Project, helping low-wage workers advocate for themselves, ensure safer working conditions, and recover lost wages.. how does this grab you: "Nearly one-third of Austin's construction workers are denied drinking water at work and 41% do not receive rest breaks on the job." *sigh*
SO.. the Gina that opened set 2 was a very different Gina: wearing a fedora, sitting down, and playing a djembe (West African style hand drum).. mellow, bluesy, spiritual-- kinda fit my mood actually after learning about people who work in the sun all day, potentially get hurt on the job, then are denied their pay. Worker's Defense Project.
To raise awareness for the benefit, appropriately called Austin 4 El Salvador, Gina was on the local FOX network (FOX is good for something?) and performed what we heard next, a tune called "Your Shape", which warranted a disco ball. Then we reheard a song from set 1-- "Miles de Millas"-- revisited and recently redone, this time with a guest musician who stepped up, playing an instrument known as the "ukulele of the Indies", the Charango. Sammy Foster played both drums and glockenspiel simultaneously!
Gina grabbed the ukulele of the Indies (official name escaped me) and sang an Argentinian ballad, from her favorite Argentinian singer (and activist) Haydée Mercedes Sosa.. which was so beautiful.. Gina's voice just brought us to the sands of an island..
The full band closed with an unofficial hymn of El Salvador, called "El Sombrero Azul", written by Ali Primera.. which had folks dancing, even after our lovely Argentinian serenade.. the benefit ended up raising over $1300, which according to my calculator, is more than 21 months of college paid for. Bravo, Gina! !Muy bien hecho!
SO.. the Gina that opened set 2 was a very different Gina: wearing a fedora, sitting down, and playing a djembe (West African style hand drum).. mellow, bluesy, spiritual-- kinda fit my mood actually after learning about people who work in the sun all day, potentially get hurt on the job, then are denied their pay. Worker's Defense Project.
To raise awareness for the benefit, appropriately called Austin 4 El Salvador, Gina was on the local FOX network (FOX is good for something?) and performed what we heard next, a tune called "Your Shape", which warranted a disco ball. Then we reheard a song from set 1-- "Miles de Millas"-- revisited and recently redone, this time with a guest musician who stepped up, playing an instrument known as the "ukulele of the Indies", the Charango. Sammy Foster played both drums and glockenspiel simultaneously!
Gina grabbed the ukulele of the Indies (official name escaped me) and sang an Argentinian ballad, from her favorite Argentinian singer (and activist) Haydée Mercedes Sosa.. which was so beautiful.. Gina's voice just brought us to the sands of an island..
The full band closed with an unofficial hymn of El Salvador, called "El Sombrero Azul", written by Ali Primera.. which had folks dancing, even after our lovely Argentinian serenade.. the benefit ended up raising over $1300, which according to my calculator, is more than 21 months of college paid for. Bravo, Gina! !Muy bien hecho!
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