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New York City, New York, United States | INDIE

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"Fernando Tarrés & Lucía Pulido – Songbook III – Myths"

by Raul da Gama

“There is something altogether new in this record that is not present in many of Lucía Pulido’s other records. And this has to do with orchestration. This is clearly the hand of Fernando Tarrés.”

There is now a welcome and absolutely beautiful addition to the two Songbooks that Lucía Pulido recorded with Fernando Tarrés. It is Songbook III – Myths, a terrific companion to Songbook I – Beliefs (BAU Records, 2005) and Songbook II – Prayers (BAU Records, 2006), both of which related to the mystical aspect of the Latin music repertoire. The songs on Songbook III – Myths look less at the preternatural and more at the earthy more folk end of the Latin repertoire. The record is an extension of the palimpsest of the series and further proof that Lucía Pulido is by far the most extraordinary interpreter of traditional music. Not only is she probably the greatest narrator of old and new songs; there is no singer barring the griots of Africa who tell stories of time gone by and who can heal the faint heart with song as Pulido can. Though tiny in stature (was not Edith Piaf small as well?) Pulido has power beyond what would be physically possible given her size. Moreover she becomes the characters in the songs swaying and seducing as she sings, piercing the heart and soul with musical arrows that ache and hurt, or bring joy, depending on what the song is supposed to do. And that is simply astounding for like Abbey Lincoln who used to use a more laconic poetic, Pulido is more aligned to the poetics of the melody, leaving the overtones and the harmonies to an inner voice that flies out in the narrative every once in awhile.

There is something altogether new in this record that is not present in many of Lucía Pulido’s other records. And this has to do with orchestration. This is clearly the hand of Fernando Tarrés. This is it: Tarrés, far ahead of his time in this type of folk music is unafraid to use dissonant musical harmonics that slash across the melody, dueling with Pulido. This he does in the form of devices that he probably learnt from Stravinsky and the late classicists. For instance he has used a string quartet in the statuesque version of Dino Saluzzi’s magnificent “Carta a Perdiguero”. On the forlorn “Esperanza” (and elsewhere) he uses the horns and reeds and woodwinds to swoosh across Pulido’s beautifully linear lyric. Then there is Tarrés enormously powerful use of the flatly tuned acoustic guitar, with which he and the ensemble duel mightily with Pulido on “Domingo ‘i chaya” a magnificent Argentinian folk song. All this is reminiscent of the dueling of soloist and symphonic orchestra in a classical concerto.

No praise is also high enough Jerónimo Carmona, the bassist who adds so much tone and color to the proceedings; with nary a root note in his brilliantly laid out changes. The presence of the extraordinary Colombian soprano saxophonist, Antonio Arnedo on “Carmelita adiós” is a stroke of genius on the part of Tarrés as is his inclusion of Donny MaCaslin in a spectacular duet with Lucía Pulido on “Cantos de vaquería”. It would also be remiss if it were not mentioned here that one of the most beautiful songs to come from the southern half of the Americas “Alfonsina y el mar” is rendered here as a spectacular rhythmic version of the aching ballad.

This (Songbook III – Myths) is brilliantly produced and together with the two earlier productions must rank as one of the most powerful series of records to come out of South America; and Colombia/Argentina. It is also a wonderfully engineered and mastered album which speaks volumes of the state of the art in Latin America, and Argentina in particular.

Tracks: Carmelita adiós; Carta a Perdiguero; Coplas sin luna; A Doña Rosa Toledo; Mi mirada; Canción de cuna; Canto de Guabina; Canto en la rama; Esperanza; Domingo ‘i chaya; Alfonsina y el mar; Cantos de vaquería; Corazón maldito; Soy de Salta y hago falta; Pensar; Corazón.

Personnel: Lucía Pulido: v - LATIN JAZZ NETWORK


"Lucia Pulido: Yo No Canto por Cantar"

por Natalia Gnecco

Una sensación de libertad se apodera de su cuerpo cada vez que sube al escenario, es como si de alguna manera lograra transportarse a ese mundo plano donde creció rodeada de senderos naturales, llanuras, ríos, lagunas y flores silvestres, que impregnan ese romanticismo a las notas melodiosas de un arpa. El joropo y el paisaje se funden en un mismo espejismo para inspirar la potente voz de Lucia Pulido, quien recientemente celebró sus treinta años de vida artística en el Atrium David Rubinstein del Lincoln Center de Nueva York. Foto: Lukas Beck
El aniversario de la artista, quien desde muy joven vivió en Casanare, coincidió con el lanzamiento de su último CD, titulado POR ESOS CAMINOS, que incluye canciones como A Pilar arroz, Canoa Rancha, Tonada de Luna Llena, Déjala Llorar, Zafra, El Rey del Rio, Por esos Caminos, María que iba en el Mar, Las Cuatro Palomas, Canto de Velorio y Flor de Mayo. Este nuevo repertorio se suma a una amplia trayectoria musical que muchos aún recuerdan, pues en los ochenta en Bogotá conformó el dúo Iván & Lucía, muy conocido por su éxito Alba, el cual nació de un poema del escritor samario José Luis Diazgranados.

Esta nueva selección de temas puramente latinoamericanos también reflejan esos diecisietes años de búsqueda permanente que ha hecho Pulido en Norteamérica. En medio de un proceso de inmigración e integración artística, Lucia cambió su pretensión de hacer solo un poco de Jazz en Nueva York, por explorar profesionalmente su voz, alimentarla con sus raíces y reinventarse como artista.

El resultado de esta metamorfosis es extraordinario, su voz pasó de ser simplemente dulce a convertirse en ese grito latinoamericano destinado a estallar y crecer, así como dice el estribillo de Canción con Todos, esa trova anónima que a muchos nos incitaba a cantar cuando oíamos a Mercedes Sossa interpretarla.

En los Estados Unidos, Lucía ha realizado numerosas presentaciones en el Greenwich House of Music School, Museo de Historia Natural, Knitting Factory, Joe's Pub, Universidad de Cornell, Lincoln Center Out Doors, entre otros y ha participado en varios festivales en Europa, Canadá, Estados Unidos y Latinoamérica.

Músicos de jazz como Edward Simon, Dave Binney, Brian Blade y Fernando Tarrés la han invitado a unir su talento al de ellos, al igual que Christian Fenessez y y Burkhard Stangi dos consagrados artistas de música experimental y electrónica en Viena. Sin duda, estas invitaciones son un acto de confianza propio de artistas de alto nivel, en donde no hay espacio para improvisar la calidad vocal.

HACER MÚSICA TRADICIONAL ES UN RETO.
Logré pescar a Lucia Pulido una semana después de su lanzamiento, en la intimidad de su casa en Nueva York, cuando por fin lograba una pequeña pausa para digerir esos nuevos compromisos que comienzan a germinar luego de su aparición en el Lincon Center,

¿Cuál ha sido su mayor reto como artista inmigrante en NY?
Nueva York es una ciudad fuerte, un sitio que le baja el ego a todo el mundo. Lo peor que puede hacer alguien cuando viene aquí es pensar que va a triunfar, porque ahí se murió, este sitio no es para eso, es para aprender, para hacer contactos, para crear un networking. Lo que hace que yo exista es el trabajo, que a la gente le guste lo colombiano, pues acá solo conocían de música cubana, brasilera, incluso para los colombianos que viven aquí es una novedad. El reto ha consistido en establecer una interacción, en conocer nuevos músicos y que éstos me inviten a crear con ellos, yo me boto al agua, pero les advierto que no leo partituras. Ganar un espacio en Nueva York, una ciudad en donde hay mucha oferta, ha sido un gran logro para mí.

¿Cómo ha sido su encuentro con la diáspora colombiana desde el escenario?
Siento que mi trabajo genera mucha curiosidad no solo en Nueva York sino en otras ciudades del mundo, igual me sorprende porque nunca digo ¡Sabor! (risas) Como soy de - ABANICO


"Live preview: Lucia Pulido / An artful Colombian vocalist shares her spirit in a free Lincoln Center show"

By Alan Lockwood

Two words apply above all others to the rare free show by Colombian vocalist Lucia Pulido at Lincoln Center's Rubenstein Atrium this week: arrive early. Possessing an intensity that embraces astonishing delicacy and superb power, sometimes in the turn of a single phrase, Pulido approaches the rich traditions of Latin American song with experimental zest and brazen accuracy. Colleagues aboard for this show include deft guitarist Sebastian Cruz, clarinetist Adam Kolker, cellist Erik Friedlander and Pulido's countrymen in the compulsive rhythm ensemble La Cumbiamba eNeYe. All are vets and habitus of Pulido's impassioned musical spectrum, and have sparkled on her recordings of the past decade.

Pulido's poetic devotion is blatant when she's at the mike stand, in a stillness of focus and in patterns she traces with maracas and hand percussion. Spanish comprehension may not be required, but emotional vulnerability is—or will be taught. The Atrium concert will feature songs from Pulido's drummerless Canciones de Despecho quartet with Cruz and violinist Sergio Reyes: the rhythms tacit, the lyrics fraught with loss and gall. (A new project with Viennese electronics musicians has yet to play New York.) This beauty and traction infuses her latest disc, Por Esos Caminos—in conversation, she's termed it "a singer's record"—and 2008's splendid Luna Menguante. The title of a startling duet with bassist Stomu Takeishi on the latter disc, "Yo No Tengo Quien Me Quiera," may be best left in the original—but should "Las Quatro Palomos" not make her set list, shout for it as an encore. - Time Out New York


"Lucía Menguante"

Por: José Alejandro Cepeda - Publicado el: 2010-11-18

Cuando Lucía Pulido sube a un escenario despista por su menuda presencia. No importa si es grande, como cuando cantó en el festival Jazz al Parque en Bogotá acompañada de una Big Band, o si es pequeño, como su paso este mismo año por la Biblioteca Nacional junto a un guitarrista. Su dulce carácter da paso a una estremecedora voz que se dio a conocer en el dúo Iván y Lucía con tres álbumes entre 1986 y 1991, y que pasó de explorar el género de la canción en Colombia a radicarse en Nueva York, donde se convirtió en una reputada representante de la escena latinoamericana. Luna menguante/Waning moon, su último disco en el cuidadoso sello Adventure Music, por fin disponible en Colombia, es testigo de su talento para el folclor, donde la vanguardia está al servicio de la tradición y viceversa.



Pulido, también en maraca, guasá y cuatro, se acompaña del guitarrista Sebastián Cruz (otra de las figuras colombianas en la Gran Manzana), el clarinetista Adam Kolker, Stomu Takeishi en bajo y Ted Poor en percusión, banda multicultural que tributa costas, llanos y la memoria de Manuel Zapata Olivella en cantos de vaquería, alabaos funerarios, zafras para las cosechas o temas de despecho como “Yo no tengo quien me quiera” con un texto de Manuel Mejía Vallejo; “Tonada de luna llena” que refleja la influencia del maestro venezolano Simón Díaz; “Las cuatro palomas” de Catalino Parra con arreglos de Cruz y su viejo socio Iván Benavides (uno de los faros de la música colombiana durante los últimos veinte años) o el caribeño “Déjala llorar”. Sin embargo eso que llaman Nuevas Músicas Colombianas, donde se conjuga la sabiduría del jazz para hacer mundial lo que es local, se plasma ante todo en “María que iba en el mar”, joya del repertorio del Pacífico que recuerda que a pesar de que ésta es la costa más maltratada por nuestros gobiernos, se está convirtiendo en una nueva Caja de Pandora gracias al trabajo de los músicos de las nuevas generaciones. Esta versión logra una belleza que la hace indispensable en el catálogo reciente del país.



A Lucía es inevitable preguntarle por el contraste entre Nueva York y Colombia, y si lo tradicional está condenado a una nostalgia estática o a una vanguardia cerrada. Ella, además de señalar como incomparable el contexto de Estados Unidos por su velocidad, reconoce el decisivo momento de su país y aclara: “La música popular colombiana, al igual que la de otros países, está pasando continuamente por lo tradicional y lo de afuera. Es parte de su renovación y qué mejor que la tradición para realimentarla. Siempre van a existir las posiciones extremas, los que se niegan a la transformación y los que no quieren saber nada de las raíces, pero esto también forma la diversidad?. Y añade algo que caracteriza la libertad de muchos artistas contemporáneos: “No creo que la música se deba hacer para que otros la entiendan. Da igual si es tradición o vanguardia, se hace para que no muera”.



En todo caso está hecha para emocionar y Luna menguante toca fibras muy íntimas, a lo que ella puntualiza: “Trabajar alrededor de la música colombiana no se debe a una necesidad de reconocerme en una nacionalidad, sino de explorar un espacio cercano de riqueza infinita. Sin una intención nacionalista, de la misma manera abordo otros países como la Argentina”. Esta creatividad cosmopolita, aún no entendida por algunos, constituye el diálogo musical del futuro.

Luna Menguante

Lucía Pulido

Adevnture Music - Revista Arcadia


"Lucía Menguante"

Por: José Alejandro Cepeda - Publicado el: 2010-11-18

Cuando Lucía Pulido sube a un escenario despista por su menuda presencia. No importa si es grande, como cuando cantó en el festival Jazz al Parque en Bogotá acompañada de una Big Band, o si es pequeño, como su paso este mismo año por la Biblioteca Nacional junto a un guitarrista. Su dulce carácter da paso a una estremecedora voz que se dio a conocer en el dúo Iván y Lucía con tres álbumes entre 1986 y 1991, y que pasó de explorar el género de la canción en Colombia a radicarse en Nueva York, donde se convirtió en una reputada representante de la escena latinoamericana. Luna menguante/Waning moon, su último disco en el cuidadoso sello Adventure Music, por fin disponible en Colombia, es testigo de su talento para el folclor, donde la vanguardia está al servicio de la tradición y viceversa.



Pulido, también en maraca, guasá y cuatro, se acompaña del guitarrista Sebastián Cruz (otra de las figuras colombianas en la Gran Manzana), el clarinetista Adam Kolker, Stomu Takeishi en bajo y Ted Poor en percusión, banda multicultural que tributa costas, llanos y la memoria de Manuel Zapata Olivella en cantos de vaquería, alabaos funerarios, zafras para las cosechas o temas de despecho como “Yo no tengo quien me quiera” con un texto de Manuel Mejía Vallejo; “Tonada de luna llena” que refleja la influencia del maestro venezolano Simón Díaz; “Las cuatro palomas” de Catalino Parra con arreglos de Cruz y su viejo socio Iván Benavides (uno de los faros de la música colombiana durante los últimos veinte años) o el caribeño “Déjala llorar”. Sin embargo eso que llaman Nuevas Músicas Colombianas, donde se conjuga la sabiduría del jazz para hacer mundial lo que es local, se plasma ante todo en “María que iba en el mar”, joya del repertorio del Pacífico que recuerda que a pesar de que ésta es la costa más maltratada por nuestros gobiernos, se está convirtiendo en una nueva Caja de Pandora gracias al trabajo de los músicos de las nuevas generaciones. Esta versión logra una belleza que la hace indispensable en el catálogo reciente del país.



A Lucía es inevitable preguntarle por el contraste entre Nueva York y Colombia, y si lo tradicional está condenado a una nostalgia estática o a una vanguardia cerrada. Ella, además de señalar como incomparable el contexto de Estados Unidos por su velocidad, reconoce el decisivo momento de su país y aclara: “La música popular colombiana, al igual que la de otros países, está pasando continuamente por lo tradicional y lo de afuera. Es parte de su renovación y qué mejor que la tradición para realimentarla. Siempre van a existir las posiciones extremas, los que se niegan a la transformación y los que no quieren saber nada de las raíces, pero esto también forma la diversidad?. Y añade algo que caracteriza la libertad de muchos artistas contemporáneos: “No creo que la música se deba hacer para que otros la entiendan. Da igual si es tradición o vanguardia, se hace para que no muera”.



En todo caso está hecha para emocionar y Luna menguante toca fibras muy íntimas, a lo que ella puntualiza: “Trabajar alrededor de la música colombiana no se debe a una necesidad de reconocerme en una nacionalidad, sino de explorar un espacio cercano de riqueza infinita. Sin una intención nacionalista, de la misma manera abordo otros países como la Argentina”. Esta creatividad cosmopolita, aún no entendida por algunos, constituye el diálogo musical del futuro.

Luna Menguante

Lucía Pulido

Adevnture Music - Revista Arcadia


"El disco más hermoso de su carrera"

Por: Luis Daniel Vega - Publicado el: 2011-11-23

El 19 de enero de 2012, en el Arthur Rubinstein Atrium del Lincoln Center de Nueva York, Lucía Pulido tendrá dos motivos muy poderosos para festejar. Por un lado, presentará oficialmente Por esos caminos, su más reciente grabación y, por el otro, celebrará treinta años de vida artística, que se remonta a los ochenta en Bogotá cuando conformó el dueto Iván & Lucía. A pesar del tiempo, aún permanece intacto en la cabeza de algunos capitalinos el eco de “Alba”, vieja canción de Iván Benavides (su compañero de dueto) quien sigue acompañando el viaje sonoro de una cantante que, más allá del afán nostálgico y la impostura nacionalista, hecha mano de tradiciones musicales latinoamericanas como pretexto creativo para experimentar con la voz.

Aunque el dueto tuvo cierta repercusión mediática, Lucía Pulido no es muy conocida en Colombia, y eso que su discografía es vasta y variada. Desde la música de despecho (Dolor de ausencia) hasta incursiones electroacústicas para bandas sonoras de películas (a girl & a gun del alemán Gustav Deutsch), la bogotana ha grabado, también, tres discos con el ensamble La Raza del argentino Fernando Tarrés, otro para el ensamble América Contemporánea del brasileño Benjamin Taubkim y tres a nombre suyo. Entre ellos están Por esos caminos, su octavo disco, que viene luego de Luna menguante del 2008 y quince años después de Lucía, su debut como líder editado por allá en 1996 por Gaira Música Local, el recordado sello de Carlos Vives con el que se dieron a conocer, entre otros, Bloque de Búsqueda y Distrito, dos legendarias bandas colombianas.

De la sofisticación de ese primer disco hoy ya no queda nada, salvo la insistencia por explorar con sutileza y obsesión parte del cancionero popular latinoamericano a través de formatos cercanos al jazz aunque, valga la aclaración, Lucía Pulido no es una cantante de jazz, lo que le permite, paradójicamente, darse muchas libertades. Acompañada de un puñado de músicos residentes en Nueva York (familiarizados todos ellos con la escena de vanguardia de la ciudad) y bajo la dirección musical del guitarrista colombiano Sebastián Cruz, Lucía presenta un disco al que no le sobra una sola nota. Desde la apertura con el bullerengue “A pilar arroz” de la cantadora Estefanía Caicedo hasta la desgarrada versión de “Malagueña”, Por esos caminos es uno de esos discos que pueden repetirse una y otra vez sin que el oído se canse. Aunque hay cierta sensación de nostalgia y de tristeza constante, Pulido nos regala pasajes radiantes como “Ayer pasé por tu casa”, una versión feliz de “El manduco”, otra pieza original de Caicedo o “Señor Pascual”, una retahíla pintoresca de la tradición oral del pacífico colombiano. De todas maneras es un disco que contiene una sensación dramática al punto de que los mejores momentos se encuentran en “Canta la gavana”, “Por qué me pegas” de Etelvina Maldonado y, especialmente, con “El calavero”, versión libre de una de esas canciones memorables del controvertido Edson Velandia.

Tímida y de aspecto frágil, Lucía Pulido se ha tomado muy a pecho la celebración de sus treinta años dedicados al canto pues, definitivamente, presenta el disco más hermoso de su carrera. Cierre los ojos, deje correr la música, sumérjase en un sueño extático y piérdase en medio de un rito misterioso que, de verdad, regocija. Allí está esa “Flor de mayo”: luminosa. Hasta se escapan las lágrimas. - Revista Arcadia


"Adventure Music Signs Acclaimed Vocalist Lucia Pulido"

Label Will Release Waning Moon, Pulido's First CD in Nearly Three Years, On September 16.

Lucia Pulido, the critically acclaimed Colombian singer whose work is noted for its fusion of the traditional with the experimental, has signed with Adventure Music, announced label co-owner Richard Zirinsky, Jr. The label will release Pulido's Waning Moon on September 16.

Pulido was a featured vocalist on Adventure Music's 2007 release, Contemporary America. In its review of the CD, The Instrumental Observer said, “Lucia Pulido opens the disc with her haunting vocals, and shows a talent of rare profundity and breadth."

The music on Waning Moon is rooted in traditional songs from Pulido's homeland of Colombia. In collaboration with the cadre of players from the New York music scene who join her for this project, Pulido has taken those traditions beyond the definitions of world music to create a sonic synthesis that truly epitomizes the country's traditions in flux. In addition to Pulido's musical director, the guitarist Sebastian Cruz, Waning Moon features the talents of long-time associate, bassist Stomo Takeishi (Myra Melford, Topaz,) drummer Ted Poor (Cuong Vu,) and clarinetist and flutist Adam Holker (Bruce Barth, Ray Baretto, Marc Cohn.)

With one of the richest voices on the international Latin American musical scene today, Lucia Pulido has mined the musical traditions of her native Colombia and other Latin American countries in an ongoing search for a distinct, experimental style, and has participated in various projects, ranging from traditional Colombian music to jazz and “Nueva Cancin" (New Song). Traditional genres such as cumbia and bullerengue from the Atlantic Coast, currulaos from the Pacific Coast as well as joropos of the Colombian Eastern Plains are the point of departure for musical creativity.

For more than ten years, Pulido was one half of the duo “Ivn y Luca" along with the singer and songwriter Ivn Benavides, with whom she recorded three albums between 1986 and 1991.

Since moving to New York City in 1994, Pulido's musical compass has been focused on an experimental approach to traditional Colombian rhythms and songs. In 1995 she recorded her first solo CD, Luca with the Colombian recording company Sonolux, distributed in the USA by Sony. In 2000, together with the Japanese percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, she recorded Religious and Pagan songs from Colombia for the German label Intuition, and in 2004 she recorded Dolor de Ausencia, a selection of classic Latin American songs of broken love, which was released by the label FM in Colombia. In 2005, together with Argentinean guitarist Fernando Tarrs she recorded Songbook I and Songbook II for BAU Records. In addition, she has performed and recorded with such diverse jazz musicians as Ed Simon, Dave Binney, and Erik Friedlander.

Adventure Music is home to a host of acclaimed acoustic artists, including such Brazilian and South American musicians as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Ricardo Silveira, the late Moacir Santos, Tom Lellis, Jovino Santos Neto, Hamilton De Holanda, Mario Adnet, Marcos Amorim, as well as bluegrass and “newgrass" releases from label co-founder Mike Marshall, with Darol Anger, Psychograss and the Swedish new traditionalists Vsen. In addition to Waning Moon, Adventure's fall release schedule includes CDs from Jovino Santos Neto and Weber Iago (Live at Caramoor), and Tom Lellis and Tonhinho Horta (Tonight,) as well as Boogie Woogie Meets Samba, which features Ze Rentao, Mario Adnet, Monica Salmaso, Maucha Adnet, Roberta Sa, and many others. Adventure Music America's releases for the fall include Shannon By the Sea from Eva Scow and Dusty Brough, and Midnight Clear, holiday music performed by Mike Marshall on solo acoustic guitar.


Lucia Pulido at All About Jazz.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=19643

- All About Jazz - USA


"Adventure Music continues to put out some of the most exhilaratingly imaginative music...."

Lucia Pulido
Waning Moon
Adventure Music
By George W. Harris

Adventure Music continues to put out some of the most exhilaratingly
imaginative music this side (or is it THAT side) of the equator.
Colombian vocalist Lucia Pulido specializes in exploring the sounds and
feel of her home country, with a voice that is earthy and penetrating.
On this disc, she mixes traditional instrumentation (guitar, clarinet,
brass, percussion) and tunes that are delivered with white knuckling
passion. Supported by Adam Kolker's woody clarinet on the lovely and
lilting "The River King", Pulido puts her heart on her sleeve with her
embracing dynamics. Agonizing on the dramatic "I've Got No One To Love
Me", or forlorn, lonely and dreamy on "Full Moon Song", she grabs your
attention with her piercing control of her voice. Raw emotions abound
on her yodeling and wailing on tunes like "Cattleherding Song" and
"Blow Wind". The supporting band is able to go from village folk to
passionate tribal rhythms, with Ted Poors drums on "Blow Wind" and "My
Mother Told Me" quite gripping. There's not a hint of gloss on this
heart felt release. This is the real thing. - JAZZ WEEKLY


"Adventure Music continues to put out some of the most exhilaratingly imaginative music...."

Lucia Pulido
Waning Moon
Adventure Music
By George W. Harris

Adventure Music continues to put out some of the most exhilaratingly
imaginative music this side (or is it THAT side) of the equator.
Colombian vocalist Lucia Pulido specializes in exploring the sounds and
feel of her home country, with a voice that is earthy and penetrating.
On this disc, she mixes traditional instrumentation (guitar, clarinet,
brass, percussion) and tunes that are delivered with white knuckling
passion. Supported by Adam Kolker's woody clarinet on the lovely and
lilting "The River King", Pulido puts her heart on her sleeve with her
embracing dynamics. Agonizing on the dramatic "I've Got No One To Love
Me", or forlorn, lonely and dreamy on "Full Moon Song", she grabs your
attention with her piercing control of her voice. Raw emotions abound
on her yodeling and wailing on tunes like "Cattleherding Song" and
"Blow Wind". The supporting band is able to go from village folk to
passionate tribal rhythms, with Ted Poors drums on "Blow Wind" and "My
Mother Told Me" quite gripping. There's not a hint of gloss on this
heart felt release. This is the real thing. - JAZZ WEEKLY


""Waning Moon" CD - Review"

LUCÍA PULIDO: DEJALA LLORAR
TRACK
Dejala Llorar

ARTIST
Lucia Pulido (vocals)

CD
Waning Moon (Adventure Music AM1042 2)

Musicians: Lucia Pulido (vocals), Adam Koller (clarinet), Sebastián Cruz (guitar, maraca), Stomu Takeishi (bass), Ted Poor (drums).
Recorded: Brooklyn, NY, February 2006


RATING: 87/100 (learn more)
"Dejala Llorar," which means "Let Her Cry," was never conceived as a jazz song; it's a traditional festive aria indigenous to the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Pulido's voice is powerful but exceptionally controlled, as she successfully navigates the Spanish lyrics through an uneven time signature, with her voice soaring above the complex rhythms.

As the arranger, Cruz deserves much credit for fusing improvised New York jazz in such a way that illuminates, not dilutes the culturally rich tune. The theme, stated by Koller and Cruz, is asymmetrical but logical in a way similar to Ornette Coleman's harmolodics. Koller's solo clarinet is given much room to create, first by providing counterpoint to Pulido's vocals, then by a free-form solo that's firmly avant-garde. Poor is nearly soloing right along with him, but never takes his hand off the rhythmic tiller.

There's much to appreciate from the lively, romantic historical music of South America and the malleability of American avant-garde jazz. "Dejala Llorar" lets us appreciate both at once.

Reviewer: S. Victor Aaron - Jazz.com


""Waning Moon" CD - Review"

LUCÍA PULIDO: DEJALA LLORAR
TRACK
Dejala Llorar

ARTIST
Lucia Pulido (vocals)

CD
Waning Moon (Adventure Music AM1042 2)

Musicians: Lucia Pulido (vocals), Adam Koller (clarinet), Sebastián Cruz (guitar, maraca), Stomu Takeishi (bass), Ted Poor (drums).
Recorded: Brooklyn, NY, February 2006


RATING: 87/100 (learn more)
"Dejala Llorar," which means "Let Her Cry," was never conceived as a jazz song; it's a traditional festive aria indigenous to the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Pulido's voice is powerful but exceptionally controlled, as she successfully navigates the Spanish lyrics through an uneven time signature, with her voice soaring above the complex rhythms.

As the arranger, Cruz deserves much credit for fusing improvised New York jazz in such a way that illuminates, not dilutes the culturally rich tune. The theme, stated by Koller and Cruz, is asymmetrical but logical in a way similar to Ornette Coleman's harmolodics. Koller's solo clarinet is given much room to create, first by providing counterpoint to Pulido's vocals, then by a free-form solo that's firmly avant-garde. Poor is nearly soloing right along with him, but never takes his hand off the rhythmic tiller.

There's much to appreciate from the lively, romantic historical music of South America and the malleability of American avant-garde jazz. "Dejala Llorar" lets us appreciate both at once.

Reviewer: S. Victor Aaron - Jazz.com


"Lucía Pulido: Arte creciente"

Lucía Pulido
Luna Menguante
Adventure-Music Records
2008

"...Ella es pequeñita…casi como un hada de cuentos…y canta desde dentro…¿cómo lo explico? desde el alma, desde lo profundo y sagrado…y por eso ahí mismo te llega…te amarra, te recompone.
Lucía es dulce, callada, seria con lo que hace. Una artista consumada y sabia en el uso de su intrumento alado: una voz que es fuerza, materia, fuego, una voz de mujer grande!..." Así se expresa de Lucía Pulido, en su blog, Julia Ardón su amiga.
Y...sí, así es. Esa es la sensación que produce escucharla -ahora en ésta, su más reciente producción - con un caudal de voz y sentimiento que en perfecta simbiósis con sus músicos y acompañantes, todos comprometidos, imbuidos del espíritu poético y musical, trasciende lo soberbio del aporte musical y la poesía, transformando cada canción en una historia propia y particular.
Lucía Pulido, nacida en Colombia - residente en Estados Unidos - ha participado en diferentes proyectos, los cuales abarcan desde música tradicional de su país y música del renacimiento hasta jazz y nueva canción. Siguiendo con acierto lo que se ha transformado en su estilo, en su forma de ser, su idioma, el repertorio de la propuesta de Lucía está basado en la música tradicional colombiana, pero con canciones elaboradas de una manera "mucho más contemporánea".
"No se trata de fusionar estilos, sino de reinventar canciones, de darles personalidad", explicó la cantante en una entrevista sostenida con con la agencia Efe.
La diversidad del repertorio y lo ecléctico del abordaje musical realizado por el soberbio equipo de músicos convocados e invitados, encuentran sutilmente un nexo perfecto en la voz de Lucía Pulido, para edificar un cosmos sonoro sin fisuras, con abundantes aportes tímbricos, rítmicos e improvisatorios notables. La presentación gráfica - singular, tratándose de Adventure-music - es excelente y adecuada para lo que en su interior nos aguarda, un material absolutamente imperdible.
Poniendome a prueba incluso, a mi mismo, por lo virtualmente imposible de "separar" del resto al menos 3 temas y, designarlos como representativos de todo el CD, dejo que el azar guíe mis dedos y sean "Canoa Rancha", "Soplaviento" y "Las cuatro palomas" los señalados. (JR)

http://jazzyotrasyerbas.blogspot.com/

- Opárupi -Jorge Rocha


"Lucía Pulido: Arte creciente"

Lucía Pulido
Luna Menguante
Adventure-Music Records
2008

"...Ella es pequeñita…casi como un hada de cuentos…y canta desde dentro…¿cómo lo explico? desde el alma, desde lo profundo y sagrado…y por eso ahí mismo te llega…te amarra, te recompone.
Lucía es dulce, callada, seria con lo que hace. Una artista consumada y sabia en el uso de su intrumento alado: una voz que es fuerza, materia, fuego, una voz de mujer grande!..." Así se expresa de Lucía Pulido, en su blog, Julia Ardón su amiga.
Y...sí, así es. Esa es la sensación que produce escucharla -ahora en ésta, su más reciente producción - con un caudal de voz y sentimiento que en perfecta simbiósis con sus músicos y acompañantes, todos comprometidos, imbuidos del espíritu poético y musical, trasciende lo soberbio del aporte musical y la poesía, transformando cada canción en una historia propia y particular.
Lucía Pulido, nacida en Colombia - residente en Estados Unidos - ha participado en diferentes proyectos, los cuales abarcan desde música tradicional de su país y música del renacimiento hasta jazz y nueva canción. Siguiendo con acierto lo que se ha transformado en su estilo, en su forma de ser, su idioma, el repertorio de la propuesta de Lucía está basado en la música tradicional colombiana, pero con canciones elaboradas de una manera "mucho más contemporánea".
"No se trata de fusionar estilos, sino de reinventar canciones, de darles personalidad", explicó la cantante en una entrevista sostenida con con la agencia Efe.
La diversidad del repertorio y lo ecléctico del abordaje musical realizado por el soberbio equipo de músicos convocados e invitados, encuentran sutilmente un nexo perfecto en la voz de Lucía Pulido, para edificar un cosmos sonoro sin fisuras, con abundantes aportes tímbricos, rítmicos e improvisatorios notables. La presentación gráfica - singular, tratándose de Adventure-music - es excelente y adecuada para lo que en su interior nos aguarda, un material absolutamente imperdible.
Poniendome a prueba incluso, a mi mismo, por lo virtualmente imposible de "separar" del resto al menos 3 temas y, designarlos como representativos de todo el CD, dejo que el azar guíe mis dedos y sean "Canoa Rancha", "Soplaviento" y "Las cuatro palomas" los señalados. (JR)

http://jazzyotrasyerbas.blogspot.com/

- Opárupi -Jorge Rocha


"ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Waning Moon, Lucia Pulido"

Album of the Week: Waning Moon, Lucía Pulido

WANING MOON
Lucía Pulido
Adventure Music

Standing out among the current crowd of Latin Jazz musicians is not an easy task. The internet has opened our ears to a wide assortment of jazz musicians from around the world. We have choices about the Latin influence, instrumentation, and improvisational approaches that we want to hear. We’ve learned to sort through our infinite choices quickly; we simply discard the boring music and obsessively collect the outstanding recordings. The increased exposure has made us savvy listeners. We’re not easily impressed by musical novelties; we need musical integrity, authenticity, and an original voice. This is a tall order for any artist, but our standards have been raised. As a result, fewer artists catch our attention and they blend into the large, indistinct crowd of Latin Jazz available to us. Vocalist Lucía Pulido breaks through the crowd on Waning Moon, bringing her powerful voice and background in Columbian music into a variety of jazz settings.

INSPIRING DUETS WITH BASSIST TAKEISHI
Pulido and bassist Stomu Takeishi explore several traditional songs in a duet setting, pushing each other into new creative directions. Takeishi begins “Yo No Tengo Quien Me Quiera” with an introspective bass solo, full of carefully shaped phrases and expressive lines. As Pulido enters on both voice and maraca, she adds a sense of beauty and elegance to the song with her deeply emotive interpretation. Takeishi takes a conversational approach to support, weaving melodic ideas, chordal passages, and rhythmic attacks between Pulido’s vocal; the results inspire chills at times. Pulido provides a rubato introduction to “Tonada De Luna Llena,” this time accompanying herself on cuatro. She soon creates gentle forward motion with a rhythmic pattern on the cuatro while her vocal creates a subdued feel. Takeishi unobtrusively supports Puldio, occasionally making his voice heard with quick fills. Pulido softly presents the melody on “Canto De Velorio” while Takeishi responds with melodic fills between vocal phrases. The power of Pulido’s voice quickly becomes apparent, as she leaps from a whisper to a roar, capturing an exhilarating emotional range. Takeishi takes center stage with a creative bass solo that explores a variety of colors and textures, truly exposing the artistic capabilities of the instrument. The interplay between Pulido and Takeishi on these tracks shows a conversational approach to improvisation that allows the musicians to shape the songs into powerful personal expressions.

PLAYING OFF THE ENERGY OF THE FULL BAND
Several other tracks utilize a full band, including multiple wind players, bringing a different set of results from Puldio. Clarinet player Adam Kolker announces the beginning of “Canoa Rancha’” with a long raspy note before moving into a rhythmic vamp. Pulido enters with a vocal line that alternates between an addictive rhythmic motion and a commanding presence that demands attention. Kolker begins his improvisation with short rhythmic phrases, building into longer melodic lines that scream with a sense of urgency. Baritone horn player Rafi Malkiel enters “Soplaviento” with an improvisational furry, trading short phrases with Kolker. Pulido boldly builds a vocal line around a powerful groove and unrelenting horn hits. Malkiel creatively manipulates the main theme into a rousing improvisation, followed by an inventive exploration of rhythmic displacement by drummer Ted Poor. Guitarist Sebastián Cruz establishes a subdued mood with soft finger picking on “María Que Iba En El Mar,” until Puldio’s intoxicating voice breaks the silence with a quiet strength. Malkiel’s trombone jumps into a rhythmic vamp that intertwines with Kolker’s flute, pushing the song into a forward motion. The band falls into an open space, filled with bursts of free improvisation from Takeishi. A powerful group movement builds the song back into an unstoppable force, driven by Pulido’s driven vocals, Malkiel’s brash trombone, and Kolker’s flute. These tracks provide an opportunity for Pulido to work around a full band; the original arrangements and strong performances make this setting ideal.

BLENDING TRADITIONAL COLUMBIAN MUSIC WITH NEW IDEAS
Pulido rounds out the recording with a collection of songs that find their basis in traditional Columbian music, but never hesitate to explore new territory. Cruz’s invitational strumming opens “El Rey Del Río,” leading into a finely crafted vocal from Pulido. Kolker moves between traditional lines woven into the arrangement and interesting variations that display his personality. The group again demonstrates their outstanding command over dynamics, as they all build the texture, bringing the song to an exciting climax. Takeishi creates a spacey texture with a combination of effects and bowing on “Zafra De Entierro - Grito De Monte,” soon giving way to a steady pulse from Poor. Pulido emanates stren - The Latin Jazz Corner


"ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Waning Moon, Lucia Pulido"

Album of the Week: Waning Moon, Lucía Pulido

WANING MOON
Lucía Pulido
Adventure Music

Standing out among the current crowd of Latin Jazz musicians is not an easy task. The internet has opened our ears to a wide assortment of jazz musicians from around the world. We have choices about the Latin influence, instrumentation, and improvisational approaches that we want to hear. We’ve learned to sort through our infinite choices quickly; we simply discard the boring music and obsessively collect the outstanding recordings. The increased exposure has made us savvy listeners. We’re not easily impressed by musical novelties; we need musical integrity, authenticity, and an original voice. This is a tall order for any artist, but our standards have been raised. As a result, fewer artists catch our attention and they blend into the large, indistinct crowd of Latin Jazz available to us. Vocalist Lucía Pulido breaks through the crowd on Waning Moon, bringing her powerful voice and background in Columbian music into a variety of jazz settings.

INSPIRING DUETS WITH BASSIST TAKEISHI
Pulido and bassist Stomu Takeishi explore several traditional songs in a duet setting, pushing each other into new creative directions. Takeishi begins “Yo No Tengo Quien Me Quiera” with an introspective bass solo, full of carefully shaped phrases and expressive lines. As Pulido enters on both voice and maraca, she adds a sense of beauty and elegance to the song with her deeply emotive interpretation. Takeishi takes a conversational approach to support, weaving melodic ideas, chordal passages, and rhythmic attacks between Pulido’s vocal; the results inspire chills at times. Pulido provides a rubato introduction to “Tonada De Luna Llena,” this time accompanying herself on cuatro. She soon creates gentle forward motion with a rhythmic pattern on the cuatro while her vocal creates a subdued feel. Takeishi unobtrusively supports Puldio, occasionally making his voice heard with quick fills. Pulido softly presents the melody on “Canto De Velorio” while Takeishi responds with melodic fills between vocal phrases. The power of Pulido’s voice quickly becomes apparent, as she leaps from a whisper to a roar, capturing an exhilarating emotional range. Takeishi takes center stage with a creative bass solo that explores a variety of colors and textures, truly exposing the artistic capabilities of the instrument. The interplay between Pulido and Takeishi on these tracks shows a conversational approach to improvisation that allows the musicians to shape the songs into powerful personal expressions.

PLAYING OFF THE ENERGY OF THE FULL BAND
Several other tracks utilize a full band, including multiple wind players, bringing a different set of results from Puldio. Clarinet player Adam Kolker announces the beginning of “Canoa Rancha’” with a long raspy note before moving into a rhythmic vamp. Pulido enters with a vocal line that alternates between an addictive rhythmic motion and a commanding presence that demands attention. Kolker begins his improvisation with short rhythmic phrases, building into longer melodic lines that scream with a sense of urgency. Baritone horn player Rafi Malkiel enters “Soplaviento” with an improvisational furry, trading short phrases with Kolker. Pulido boldly builds a vocal line around a powerful groove and unrelenting horn hits. Malkiel creatively manipulates the main theme into a rousing improvisation, followed by an inventive exploration of rhythmic displacement by drummer Ted Poor. Guitarist Sebastián Cruz establishes a subdued mood with soft finger picking on “María Que Iba En El Mar,” until Puldio’s intoxicating voice breaks the silence with a quiet strength. Malkiel’s trombone jumps into a rhythmic vamp that intertwines with Kolker’s flute, pushing the song into a forward motion. The band falls into an open space, filled with bursts of free improvisation from Takeishi. A powerful group movement builds the song back into an unstoppable force, driven by Pulido’s driven vocals, Malkiel’s brash trombone, and Kolker’s flute. These tracks provide an opportunity for Pulido to work around a full band; the original arrangements and strong performances make this setting ideal.

BLENDING TRADITIONAL COLUMBIAN MUSIC WITH NEW IDEAS
Pulido rounds out the recording with a collection of songs that find their basis in traditional Columbian music, but never hesitate to explore new territory. Cruz’s invitational strumming opens “El Rey Del Río,” leading into a finely crafted vocal from Pulido. Kolker moves between traditional lines woven into the arrangement and interesting variations that display his personality. The group again demonstrates their outstanding command over dynamics, as they all build the texture, bringing the song to an exciting climax. Takeishi creates a spacey texture with a combination of effects and bowing on “Zafra De Entierro - Grito De Monte,” soon giving way to a steady pulse from Poor. Pulido emanates stren - The Latin Jazz Corner


"Lucía Pulido - Luna Menguante (Waning Moon)"

Lucia Pulido - Luna Menguante (Waning Moon)
Adventure Music, 2008
By Raul d'Gama Rose

Of all the vocalists in the world of music, especially those that practice the ancient, dying art of singing a story - not merely narrating - but telling it as griots do only a handful inhabit an atmosphere so rarified that they would qualify for canonization. If such sainthood was possible then Abbey Lincoln and Sheila Jordan would be have been anointed a while ago. So would Sussan Deyhim, the Farsi singer of Sufi music, the Ethiopian singer, Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw, Ernie and Mariyam Tollar, Maria Bethania and Nana Caymmi from Brasil… and the reining griot princess would, of course, be Lucia Pulido from Colombia.

Of all of these vocalists, Lucia Pulido's is the probably most arresting and sublime artistry. She has the most bewitching voice that can swirl from ebullient and festive to an elementally sad lament. So great is her control over the vocal dynamic that Pulido can summon sudden changes in power and density, by gathering her vocal chords and pouring liquefied dialogues with musicians and instruments. She is able to take command and consume a lyric and if she so pleases and the song demands, set it free to flutter into the ether to echo interminably until it pierces the heart like a perfectly-aimed arrow.

This recording, Luna Menguante/Waning Moon is a breathtaking showcase of this otherworldly talent. It gathers together music from the folkloric traditions of the Colombian Caribbean, its Pacific Coast and the Eastern Plains. There are twelve songs rendered in an utterly ancient yet modern context with such brilliance that each seizes the senses and it is impossible to extract oneself from the lyric, the manner in which the song is vocalized and the dynamic sound canvas that she is able to conjure up. Pulido inhabits the music with body and soul. She alone commands what it will do to the senses - all six of them, which are at once her prisoner until the song becomes the epiphany.

Although each of the songs are exquisitely complete there is something extraordinarily magical with the ones she sings with the accompaniment of Stomu Takeishi's bass. "I've No One To Love Me," "Full Moon Song" and "Funeral Song" are exemplary in style, interplay with the bass and the power of voice over lyric. But is the 0.27 second, solo-voiced "Cattleherding Song" that will be best remembered for its power and solitary splendor. But then the other tracks are no less unforgettable… And the magic of Lucia Pulido's voice continues to haunt long after the echoes of the last notes have died in the future.

This is an extraordinary record. Although many musicians may have attempted to bring the beauty of Latin American folkloric beauty to life, few artists are likely to have such a lasting impact as Lucia Pulido's Luna Menguante/Waning Moon. Perhaps with the possible exception of Gigi's Abyssinia Infinite, Sussan Deyhim's Madman of God, Maria Bethania's As Cancoes Que Voce Para Mim, Ernie Tollar and Mariyam Tollar's work on Michael Occhipinti's Sicilian Jazz Project and Abbey Lincoln's Abbey Sings Abbey. But Pulido's may be better than them all.

Original: http://www.latinjazznet.com/reviews/lucia_pulido/index.htm - Latin Jazz Network


"Lucía Pulido - Luna Menguante (Waning Moon)"

Lucia Pulido - Luna Menguante (Waning Moon)
Adventure Music, 2008
By Raul d'Gama Rose

Of all the vocalists in the world of music, especially those that practice the ancient, dying art of singing a story - not merely narrating - but telling it as griots do only a handful inhabit an atmosphere so rarified that they would qualify for canonization. If such sainthood was possible then Abbey Lincoln and Sheila Jordan would be have been anointed a while ago. So would Sussan Deyhim, the Farsi singer of Sufi music, the Ethiopian singer, Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw, Ernie and Mariyam Tollar, Maria Bethania and Nana Caymmi from Brasil… and the reining griot princess would, of course, be Lucia Pulido from Colombia.

Of all of these vocalists, Lucia Pulido's is the probably most arresting and sublime artistry. She has the most bewitching voice that can swirl from ebullient and festive to an elementally sad lament. So great is her control over the vocal dynamic that Pulido can summon sudden changes in power and density, by gathering her vocal chords and pouring liquefied dialogues with musicians and instruments. She is able to take command and consume a lyric and if she so pleases and the song demands, set it free to flutter into the ether to echo interminably until it pierces the heart like a perfectly-aimed arrow.

This recording, Luna Menguante/Waning Moon is a breathtaking showcase of this otherworldly talent. It gathers together music from the folkloric traditions of the Colombian Caribbean, its Pacific Coast and the Eastern Plains. There are twelve songs rendered in an utterly ancient yet modern context with such brilliance that each seizes the senses and it is impossible to extract oneself from the lyric, the manner in which the song is vocalized and the dynamic sound canvas that she is able to conjure up. Pulido inhabits the music with body and soul. She alone commands what it will do to the senses - all six of them, which are at once her prisoner until the song becomes the epiphany.

Although each of the songs are exquisitely complete there is something extraordinarily magical with the ones she sings with the accompaniment of Stomu Takeishi's bass. "I've No One To Love Me," "Full Moon Song" and "Funeral Song" are exemplary in style, interplay with the bass and the power of voice over lyric. But is the 0.27 second, solo-voiced "Cattleherding Song" that will be best remembered for its power and solitary splendor. But then the other tracks are no less unforgettable… And the magic of Lucia Pulido's voice continues to haunt long after the echoes of the last notes have died in the future.

This is an extraordinary record. Although many musicians may have attempted to bring the beauty of Latin American folkloric beauty to life, few artists are likely to have such a lasting impact as Lucia Pulido's Luna Menguante/Waning Moon. Perhaps with the possible exception of Gigi's Abyssinia Infinite, Sussan Deyhim's Madman of God, Maria Bethania's As Cancoes Que Voce Para Mim, Ernie Tollar and Mariyam Tollar's work on Michael Occhipinti's Sicilian Jazz Project and Abbey Lincoln's Abbey Sings Abbey. But Pulido's may be better than them all.

Original: http://www.latinjazznet.com/reviews/lucia_pulido/index.htm - Latin Jazz Network


"Individualists, Straddling Cultures and Exporting Ideas"

January 23, 2007
Music Review | Globalfest
Individualists, Straddling Cultures and Exporting Ideas (excerpt)
By JON PARELES

World music performers often present themselves as emissaries from a single exotic country. But at the fourth annual Globalfest, a world-music showcase with a dozen acts at Webster Hall on Sunday night, many of the musicians cited dual origins: Cape Verde and Lisbon for Sara Tavares, Colombia and New York City for Lucia Pulido, Cambodia and Los Angeles for the band Dengue Fever, Mexico and Minneapolis for Lila Downs. These are not traditional musicians; they are individualists who happily blend and straddle cultures.

Ms. Pulido sang new and old Colombian songs with a band that mixed the rustic — clattering rhythms played with sticks on the sides of drums — with complex touches of jazz harmony and odd meters. Often they used both at once in smart proportions. But her voice stayed raw and tearful, true to the sentiments of love songs announcing a wounded heart.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/arts/music/23glob.html?ex=1170651600&en=7f6d611c19188c2b&ei=5070


Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

- New York Times - USA


"Lucía Pulido: Time Darkened by Sorrow, Brightened By Passion"

Feature written by: Raul da Gama - Latin Jazz Network

The sky darkens, Lorca-like and a primordial wail rips through it. “Ai…leh leh leh…/No sé qué tendrá mi pecho/no sé qué tendrá mi pecho…/que mi voz alevanta,” she sings as she cries… “I don’t know what’s in my chest/I don’t know what’s in my chest…/that my voice is arising.” Her voice cuts through the dense clouds and shoots across the sky towards the infinite… Beloved Carmelita has thrown her life away. Dressed like a siren, she emerges from her home to walk the streets. The singer is heartbroken. “Carmelita, adiós,” she warns… “Ai…leh leh leh…/No sabiendo que la rosa/no sabiendo que la rosa/muere triste y deshojada/a le le le,” “Not knowing that the rose/Not knowing that the rose/Dies sad and bereft of petals/Carmelita adios.”

Lucía Pulido’s voice is in flood, like the Orinoco when it rains and is angry that the earth is dry. Her voice rises and falls, ululating… mimicking the river as it soars high and mighty over everything, sweeping out of sight the flotsam and jetsam that despoil the green brown and blue of the soundscape. It is the cleansing fire, the heart’s desire. The gausá rattles and trembles in her hand as her voice is tremulous. The chirimía band that encourages her sensuous swagger to become intense as a dervish, or mystic… a saint in a trance until her energy and the band’s consume everything on the earth that bleeds with elemental sorrow—and many time with unbridled joy as well.
The album is Lucía Pulido, a 2000 release from the German label, Intuition. It is a pivotal one for Pulido, who is joined here by the Japanese percussionist, Satoshi Takeishi who arranges the songs and also plays the Tambora, Llamador and Redoblante—instruments of north and west African origin that are traditional to Colombia and elsewhere in South America, first brought over by the Spanish conquistadores. Like she has done on so many occasions before, Pulido reaches deep into the heart of her music. In fact she goes even beyond that to find the soul of the songs, the ghostly characters and develops the kind of bestiary that would have done that Argentinean master—Jorge Luis Borges—proud. Her lyricism is beautiful and her profound interpretations qualify her to be more than a griot. On the sensual “El Pilón,” a traditional feature that is like something from out of missing verses from the Biblical Songs of Solomon she cavorts with her characters, slurring and delaying the end notes of each phrase to depict near-drunken love and this infuses the song with dramatic puya effect.

Two religious songs make this album breathtakingly beautiful. The first is the somber, “En Una Tiniebla Oscura” devoted to the Virgin Mary and the other is played to “Cantos de Vaquería,” lavishly enhanced with brass and woodwinds. Her association with Bullerengue is masterful and the two on the album are unforgettable. “Porro Magangueleño” and “Carmelita, Adios” are so deeply felt that they are almost seared into the memory. “Zafra” is a high and lonesome zafra or herding song from the Atlantic coast of the country and is magnificently approached by bassist, Jairo Moreno, who might as well have bowed his way into a very special place in the realm of acoustic bass players. The percussionists make the piece much too seductive to resist. And “Velo Qué Bonito” is a funerary masterpiece, conceived and executed with sublime emotion.
Lucía Pulido is an artist who connects with the genre of song at a very elementally deep level. To that extent she exercises an almost shamanic control over the lyric, its narration and how it will affect the listener. In Africa she would be a gnawa, like Maalem Mahmoud Gania, the legendary Moroccan gnawa musician first brought out of Africa by Bill Laswell with the seminal Trance of the Seven Colors, a collaboration with the great tenor saxophonist, Pharoah Sanders that is a certified masterpiece, as is the other gnawa album produced by Laswell, The Next Dream with that other mystical gnawa artist, Bachir Attar.
Pulido is an artist who has been shaped by a passionate love for her country and is bonded to Colombia almost the way a wood sprite is bonded with a forest floor. The air she breathes seems to transform itself as it courses through her veins. Cultures collide in her heart and soul… African, Spanish, Caribbean, Amerindian. She may not be any one of them, but she is all of them. This is why her soul can float free, travelling infinitely across the country drawing on sounds and stories—real and mythical, concrete and mystical—until she has absorbed them and made them her own. It seems that she can experience life through every pore. As experiences become internalized they also form a continuum that Pulido transforms into her art using a voice that has no parallel in music. Pulido’s voice is like an instrument that is at once a part of her body as well as a musical device that is to be controlled with unbridled imagination and extreme virtuosity.


- Latin Jazz Network


"Lucía trae a España su toque personal de ritmos latinoamericanos"

ESPAÑA-MÚSICA

Lucía Pulido trae a España su toque personal de ritmos latinoamericanos

Alida Juliani
Madrid, 4 mar (EFE).- La cantante colombiana Lucía Pulido presentó hoy en España su visión personal de los ritmos tradicionales latinoamericanos, dentro del festival "Ellas Crean" que se celebra en la Casa de América de Madrid.
Pulido ofreció un concierto basado en la música tradicional colombiana, pero con canciones elaboradas de una manera "mucho más contemporánea".
"No se trata de fusionar estilos, sino de reinventar canciones, de darles personalidad", explicó la cantante en una entrevista con Efe.
A lo largo de sus casi 20 años de trayectoria musical Pulido ha experimentado con diferentes géneros, sobre todo con el Jazz.
"Vivir en Nueva York me ha permitido conocer a instrumentistas de Jazz que tienen sus propios proyectos y que me han invitado a trabajar con ellos", señala.
Pero su búsqueda va más allá de la mera fusión de ritmos, y en ese "juego", la colombiana asegura que lo importante es encontrar los textos adecuados, aquellos que supongan "un reto" en su evolución como artista.
"Me muevo alrededor de la interpretación y por eso es importante el texto a partir del que voy a trabajar. Necesito textos de calidad", dice.
Para Pulido "cada canción es un sentimiento" y cada interpretación es distinta según quién le acompañe en el escenario.
"Dependiendo del músico con quien actúe el sonido varía, incluso en ocasiones la melodía se va improvisando, sobre todo en los duetos. A veces tiende más a lo tradicional y otras a lo experimental", explica.
Entre los formatos con los que ha experimentado, "las canciones de despecho" ocupan un hueco importante en su memoria.
"Son canciones para cortarse las venas", dice con rotundidad.
En su trabajo "Dolor de ausencia" recopiló canciones de los años 30 y 50 que hablaban de amores imposibles, tragedia y celos.
"Alrededor del despecho hay muchas posibilidades. Trabajé con boleros que originalmente fueron tangos y los tangos tienen unas letras increíbles", recuerda.
Lucía Pulido planea ya su próximo proyecto que se centrará en la música electroacústica, en el que colaborará con el músico Germán Arturo Pérez, colombiano afincado en Austria.
Para la cantante, la voz "es un instrumento de comunicación, una forma de transmitir sentimientos dependiendo del contexto", y en ese sentido le gusta moverse en el campo de las nuevas tecnologías.
"Hablé con Germán y le planteé la posibilidad de componer una obra y le ofrecí mi voz para utilizarla como él sienta que la tiene que utilizar. Se trata de experimentar con el sonido, no con la canción", comenta.
Los próximos meses serán intensos para Lucía Pulido, que recorrerá diferentes lugares de Latinoamérica antes de regresar en verano a España. EFE


http://www.publico.es/056067/lucia/pulido/trae/espana/toque/personal/ritmos/latinoamericanos
- Público.es - Ultima Hora


"Selection - Reviews"

"Ms. Pulido holds on to the rawness of the original melodies while giving them a sophisticated new context." The New York Times, USA

“There is always a ‘cry’ in the work of some of the best musicians.”
What Nat Hentoff wrote about John Coltrane in 1959 on the cover of Giant Steps, applies perfectly to Lucia Pulido in our days. The ‘cry’ in Lucía’s work is not necessarily one of despair. It is rather – as Hentoff would put it – proof of an artist always closely in touch with her emotions. In Lucía’s voice there is that ‘cry’, and it will both raise a smile and drew a tear out of your face.
Albert Hosp / ORF Ö1, Radio Austria / Festival Glatt & Verkehrt, Austria


***

“The emotional intensity of Pulido’s voice on this collection (Waning Moon – Luna Menguante), which was inspired by traditional Colombian folksongs, is at times, almost too much to bear – but well worth it if you can”. Alexander Gelfand, Jazzis Magazine

“Colombian vocalist Lucia Pulido specializes in exploring the sounds and feel of her home country, with a voice that is earthy and penetrating… There's not a hint of gloss on this 
heart felt release. This is the real thing.” George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

"...There’s a number of unforgettable and powerful moments throughout Waning Moon, ensuring that one listen will set Pulido apart from the crowd as an important Latin Jazz artist on today’s scene." Latin Jazz Corner

“Pulido's voice is powerful but exceptionally controlled, as she successfully navigates the Spanish lyrics through an uneven time signature, with her voice soaring above the complex rhythms.”
S. Victor Aaron, Jazz.com

***

"Lucia Pulido is one of those rare artists whose outstanding individuality and personality is able to embrace a wide array of musical styles... What makes her so special is her continuous search for singing in different ways and finding new sounds for her instrument. I believe she is one of the few serious, tradition-conscious musical innovators of our time..."

Jo Aichinger, Artistic director of Glatt & Verkehrt Festival, Austria

***

For me Lucía has one of the strongest voices of our generation in the world. Few singers can carry within their voice their own country and people. Hers is the voice of the village in the midst of the most urban life.

“Lucía es para mi una de las voces más fuertes de nuestra generación en todo el mundo. Pocos tienen como ella su país y su gente en su cantar. Es el canto de su aldea en medio de lo más urbano y central.”

Benjamim Taubkin, Curador "Mercado Cultural da Bahia", Brasil

***

“Ms. Pulido sang new and old Colombian songs with a band that mixed the rustic clattering rhythms played with sticks on the sides of drums with complex touches of jazz harmony and odd meters. Often they used both at once in smart proportions. But her voice stayed raw and tearful, true to the sentiments of love songs announcing a wounded heart.” Jon Pareles, New York Times, USA, January/07

***

Her voice takes the shape of a sacred song, as if she were a priestess singing to the earth, to her ancestors, to her roots; her phrasing evokes an ever moving world not stuck in the past but constantly present.


“Su voz toma la forma de un canto sagrado, como una sacerdotisa que canta a la tierra, a sus ancestros, a sus raíces; la artista evoca con su fraseo un mundo que no se ha detenido en el pasado, que sigue presente.”

César Pradines, La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jun. 25/06


***

Felt and supported by both a potent and sweet voice, Lucia Pulido left it clear that her interpretation is the right way to translate the feeling of those songs born out of a people. And this, speaking of a singer of popular music, is the closest we can imagine to certifying a mission accomplished.

“Lucía Pulido también dejó en claro que su manera de interpretar, sentida y apoyada en una voz potente y dulce, es el modo exacto que traduce el sentimiento de las canciones que nacen en el seno de los pueblos. Y eso, hablando de una intérprete de música popular, es lo más parecido a la certificación de una misión cumplida.”

Marcelo Menichetti, Diario La Capital, Rosario, Argentina, Oct. 7, 2005


***

No two CD’s from Lucia resemble each other… She would cease being herself if she did not opt for experimentation and surprise.

“Ningún disco de Lucía se parece al anterior ... Lucía dejaría de ser Lucía si no optara por el experimento y la sorpresa.”

Juan Carlos Garay, SEMANA, Colombia, Marzo / 06


- Several publishers


"Pulido: con magia en la voz"

Pulido: con magia en la voz

Presentación del disco "Songbook II" , con Lucía Pulido (canto) y el grupo La Raza, integrado por Rodrigo Domínguez y Luis Nacht en saxos tenor y soprano, Fernando Tarrés en guitarra acústica, Juan Pablo Arredondo en guitarra eléctrica, Jerónimo Carmona en contrabajo y Carto Brandán en batería. Anteanoche, en La Trastienda.
Nuestra opinión: muy bueno

Una de las relaciones mejor logradas por el jazz en la Argentina es la de fusionar el espíritu del género con ciertas tradiciones, como la folklórica y la tanguera. La propuesta de la cantante Lucía Pulido con el grupo La Raza, si bien no tiene aquella originalidad de años atrás, logró llevar este tipo de encuentros a un gran nivel para la presentación de "Songbook II", segundo disco de la cantante editado en la Argentina.

La cantante colombiana Pulido es una artista de gran formación vocal que ha logrado mixturar el mundo académico con el sentimiento que conlleva la tradición; el material que propuso en Buenos Aires estuvo dominado por canciones del folklore colombiano y del argentino. Con ella, un grupo de "grandes cabezas" que exhibió experiencia en este tipo de materiales y en la edificación de climas que, a esta altura, se han convertido en un estilo de interpretación para ellos. A todo esto, se le sumó un ensayo que resultó en un ensamble de bellísima coordinación en los arranques y en los diferentes puentes de los temas.

Entonces, surge una primera síntesis: Pulido, brillante (y no es un juego de palabras), y el grupo, sólido y con un carácter y seguridad que enriquecieron la presentación.

La propuesta se basó en un puñado de canciones de diferente origen, pero conceptualmente unidas por el sentimiento y la exuberancia de la voz de Pulido, una artista que sabe utilizar su "instrumento" de manera conmovedora, al punto de convertir su canto en el gran protagonista de la noche y frente a una Trastienda llena, que parece atraer, como en sus buenos tiempos, a un público inquieto y cálido, al mismo tiempo.

Pulido mostró que tiene una fluidez en su canto con la que logró, sin dificultad, acercar la canción folklórica al contexto de modernidad, casi en el borde del vanguardismo, sin por ello disminuir la emoción de sus líricas. Esta pequeña cantante mostró carácter y una particular forma de relacionarse con la instrumentación. Su voz toma la forma de un canto sagrado, como una sacerdotisa que canta a la tierra, a sus ancestros, a sus raíces; la artista evoca con su fraseo un mundo que no se ha detenido en el pasado, que sigue presente.

Responsable de parte de este milagro fue la original forma de acompañamiento que exhibió el grupo, algo sucio en su sonido, quizá como las verdaderas tradiciones folklóricas que traen un polvo espeso en sus alas melódicas, que llenó el recinto de un sonido dinámico, arrastrado y con voces que se elevaron con el mismo sentimiento que el canto de la vocalista.

Pulido hizo algunos temas de la tradición colombiana como "Zafra", "Por qué me pegas", "El cosechero" o "Cantos de vaquería" en los que brilló como un lucero. Un canto sentido, con un registro amplio y una potencia expresiva que parece ajena a su pequeña figura; también canciones populares de esta zona de América del Sur como "Agüita demorada", una versión tremenda de "Choloita traidora" y un homenaje al Cuchi, con "La arenosa", aquí más contenida, pero con igual profundidad en sus emociones.

Entre los instrumentistas, se lucieron Domínguez, más atado a las figuras melódicas que otras veces; Arredondo, con un vuelo casi de rocker en sus pasajes, y Carmona, un contrabajista que también se mostró recatado a la hora de viajar con sus improvisaciones. Un grupo de eximios solistas que defendió las canciones y una cantante que tuvo magia en su voz. Una relación maravillosamente especial.

César Pradines
La Nación - Argentina - La Nación - Argentina


Discography


PUBLISHED RECORDINGS

• 2011/2012. LUCIA PULIDO ‘Por esos caminos – Journeying’ – Ojo de Musica / Lucía Pulido (Spain – Colombia)

• 2011. LUCIA PULIDO, FERNANDO TARRES ‘Songbook III, Myths’ (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - BAU Records

• 2008. LUCIA PULIDO ‘Waning Moon – Luna Menguante’ – Adventure Music (USA)

• 2006. LUCIA PULIDO, FERNANDO TARRES & LA RAZA
‘Songbook II’ - (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - BAU Records

• 2006. AMERICA CONTEMPORANEA – UM OUTRO CENTRO - (Sao Paulo, Brazil) – Núcleo Contemporáneo (Brazil), Adventure Music (USA)

• 2005. LUCIA PULIDO, FERNANDO TARRES & LA RAZA
‘Songbook I’ - (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - BAU Records

• 2004. LUCIA PULIDO – ‘Dolor de Ausencia’ - FM Discos (Colombia)

• 2000. LUCIA PULIDO & SATOSHI TAKEISHI ‘Lucía Pulido -(Religious and Pagan Songs from Colombia)’ - Intuition Records (Germany)

• 1997. LUCIA PULIDO’s FIESTA DE TAMBORES – ‘La Pluma’ Independent recording - (New York, USA)

• 1995. LUCIA PULIDO – ‘Lucía’ - Sonolux (Colombia) / Sony Music (USA)

• 1992. IVAN Y LUCIA - ‘Arcanos’ (Colombia)

• 1989. IVAN Y LUCIA – ‘Entre el Sueño y la Realidad’ (Colombia)

• 1986. IVAN Y LUCIA – ‘Iván y Lucía’ (Colombia)

Photos

Bio

LUCIA PULIDO is a Colombian singer with one of the richest voices on the international Latin American musical scene today. She has an experimental style marked by a distinct vocal sophistication, and has participated in various projects, ranging from traditional Colombian music to jazz and world music. Raul d’Gama on Latin Jazz Network says “Pulido inhabits the music with body and soul. She alone commands what it will do to the senses - all six of them, which are at once her prisoner until the song becomes the epiphany.”
With her ensemble she pays homage to Colombian music. Traditional genres such as cumbia, bullerengue, currulaos as well as joropos are the point of departure for musical creativity. Lucía's vocal sophistication is enhanced in genres such as herding songs (cantos de vaquería), funeral laments (alabaos) and harvest chants (cantos de zafra) which give the singer the liberty to explore her voice fully.

She is currently working on several projects with musicians in New York City and in different countries in Latin America and Europe. Some of these include her New York based LUCIA PULIDO ENSEMBLE (QUARTET and TRIO), performing experimental arrangements of Colombian traditional music as well as newly composed songs written for her; the classic repertoire of Latin American songs of broken love ("despecho") performed with musicians based in New York; an experimental project based on Latin American traditional songs with Argentinean guitarist Fernando Tarrés; and a project called "América Contemporánea – um Outro Centro" with Brazilian pianist Benjamim Taubkin and several musicians from different countries in Latin America. Her active career includes performances in Europe, Canada, United States, Asia, and Latin America.

In New York she has been invited to sing and record with different jazz musicians such as Ed Simon, Dave Binney, and Erik Friedlander, and in Vienna, Austria, with experimental and electronic musicians such as Christian Fennesz, Burkhard Stangl, and Martin Siewert. In the United States, Lucia has promoted her music in private theaters, universities, and in well known venues of the New York City area (Joe's Pub, Lincoln Center Out Doors, Queens Theatre in the Park, the Stone, Knitting Factory, Roulette) and has been part of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood concert series organized in the city. In 2000 she received a grant for New York City resident artists from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Foundation LMCC, and in the summers of 2007 and 2008 she was an Artist in Residence in Krems, Austria.

Lucía's musical compass after her arrival in New York in 1994 has been focused on an experimental approach to traditional Colombian rhythms and songs. In 1995 she recorded her first solo CD "Lucía" with the Colombian recording company Sonolux, distributed in the USA by Sony; in 2000, together with the Japanese percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, she recorded a CD for the German label Intuition (Religious and Pagan songs from Colombia); in 2004 she recorded "Dolor de Ausencia", a selection of classic Latin American songs of heart-broken love released by the label FM in Colombia; in 2005, together with Argentinean guitarist Fernando Tarrés, she recorded Songbook I and II for BAU Records; in the Fall 2008 her work "Waning Moon – Luna Menguante", based on traditional Colombian music, was released by the label Adventure Music. Songbook III with Fernando Tarrés was released by BAU records in Argentina in 2011, and her latest recording "Journeying - Por Esos Caminos" with Ojo de Musica label was released on 2012.

Before her move to New York City, in Colombia, she was part of the duo "Iván y Lucía" for more than ten years with the singer and songwriter Iván Benavides (Sidestepper, Carlos Vives), with whom she recorded three L.P.'s between 1986-1991, touring in Europe and Latin America.

"Ms. Pulido holds on to the rawness of the original melodies while giving them a sophisticated new context." Jon Pareles, The New York