Customer Reviews

Living Road

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lhasa de Sela's sound is the unique product of a bohemian upbringing: born in the US to an American actress/photographer mother and Mexican college professor father, the family (including Lhasa's three sisters, three half-sisters and three half-brothers) traveled throughout the USA and Mexico on a bus. At age 13 Lhasa began singing, taking lessons from a jazz singer in San Francisco. Lhasa's influences include Billie Holliday, Chavela Vargas, Tom Waits, Cuco Sanchez, Maria Callas, Victor Jara and Jacques Brel. Lhasa was also influenced by the passing landscapes, the stories and fairytales told by her mother, as well as the Latin, Arab, Eastern European and Asian music she would listen to.

In "The Living Road," chanteuse Lhasa builds upon the musical foundations laid on her debut "La Llorona," combining moody vocals with a heavy sprinkling of Latin, klezmer, jazz and world influences. "The Living Road" was written seven years after the release of "La Llorona," after Lhasa had moved from Montréal to France in order to perform with her sisters, who are circus performers. The twelve songs are a mixture of English, French and Spanish lyrics. The unique instrumentation present on her debut makes a reappearance here, with the addition of xylophone, bells, mariachi trumpets, maracas, slide guitar and more.

Lhasa's new album is truly a voyage of discovery. Where "La Llorona" centered around the mythical Wailing Woman, "The Living Road" is a metaphor of life as a road. "That's what inspires each of the songs on the album," says Lhasa. "The mysterious force that doesn't let us box ourselves in, that compels us to keep changing. The road is alive, we can't freeze or stop it. And we know can't."

My personal favourites include "La frontera," with a very traditional mariachi sound, the repetitive yet addictive "Small Song," "La marée haute," and "Pa' llegar a tu lado," with its melancholy waltzing rhythm and Satie-like piano bassline. The musical mood is somewhere between a torch song, Mexican folk, Spaghetti Western, and circus music. An excellent sophomore album with all the sparkle and wit we've come to expect from Lhasa. This album was nominated as one of Amazon.ca's Top Albums of 2003 by critics and customers alike, and it's easy to hear why.

I loved Lhasa's first CD and lived threw the 1997 Ice storm (Quebec) with it. This second CD was a pure pleasure when I saw it in the store. I didn't know she came out with a new CD. I had been living in Florida for 2 years, and international culture is not a priority here. This album is a piece of Montreal that travels in my car all the time. The mix of French, English and Spanish is the everyday reality in Montreal... Que de souvenirs.
This is an amazing album, with passion, emotions... The music is great and the lyrics are even better.

Le premier CD de Lhasa m'a aider a passer au travers de la tempete de verglas qu'on a eu au Quebec en 1997. Quel joie quand j'ai vu son nouveau CD au magasin. Habitant la Floride, je ne suis plus au courant de ce qui ce passe au niveau de la culture internationale. Donc, pendant mon voyage a Montreal, j'ai decouvert qu'elle avait sortie un nouvel album. En plus, c'est un melange de Francais, anglais et espagnol... Montreal me suit partout en auto avec ce nouveau CD de Lhasa. Elle est vraiment super! Les paroles, la musique... C'est indescriptible, parce que c'est unique a Lhasa!

I discovered Lhasa by chance, and I instantly adored her music. Here's a singer out of the commonplace. She's very personal and her musicians are great as well. I find her lyrics are fantastic, she expresses no hypocrisy at all; but frank and profound thoughts, moods and emotions. If I were to describe her music in a word I would say it is intense.

J'ai découvert Lhasa par hasard, et j'ai adoré sa musique instantanément. Elle est une chanteuse hors du commun. Elle est très personnelle et ses musiciens sont très bons aussi. Je trouve que ses paroles sont fantastiques, elle n'exprime aucune d'hypocrisie, pas du tout; mais franches et profondes pensées, humeurs et émotions. Pour décrire sa musique en un mot je dirais que c'est intense.

Descubrí a Lhasa de casualidad, y su música me encantó instantáneamente. Esta es una cantante fuera de lo común. Es muy personal y sus músicos son muy buenos también. Creo que sus letras son fantásticas, no expresa hipocresía alguna sino francos y profundos pensamientos, estados de ánimo y emociones. Si tuviera que describir su música en una sola palabra diría que es intensa.

Lhasa's unique voice and vision become entangled to create a musical world full of imagination and wonder, while reaching deep into the crevices of the human soul.

You will be scared by it's haunting beauty, then mesmerized with it's poetic images. This is what all pop music should be like.

The Living Road creates a lush, mysterious and eloquent ambiance. It is a great work of art. Lhasa's lyrics are simple and strong, and she sings with a soulful longing that is earthy and real. The three languages on the album add a variety which i feel clarifies and enhances the experience. I don't think that everyone in the world would come to love an artist like Lhasa, but I certainly do love this genuinely honest and perfectly beautiful music which certainly stands alone.

This is a great cd to own, you'll be listening to Lhasa's heavenly voice, and the mysterious music behind it, over and over again, no matter what kind of music you're into. I can tell you with confidence that The Living Road is one of the best albums I've bought in years, it's full of REAL passion and sensation, something that is hard to find in today's music "business". If your heart is still tender and throbing, you'll deffinatley begin to shiver and resonate with every moment of this music. For those who look for love in "reality TV" ...sorry I have no recomendations.
Lhasa, thanks for sharing a part of you with us, I hope we'll be worthy of it...please keep up the good work, you're amazing, you are simply beautiful.

Lhasa de Sala is a singular voice. For those who had the good fortune to come across La Llorona, her 1997 debut, this should not be news. As much as this album does not follow her first album to the letter -this is quite more diverse in terms of musical forms, choice of instruments and the fact that it contains songs sung in three languages- it is totally consistent with it. The common thread is in the intangibles: the undaunted exploration of her roots, the words and mood of each song in exquisite consonance, and the devotion to be true to herself as an artist. Given all this, the title of Lhasa's second album could not be more appropriate, these are songs of the "living road," not just a personal "journey" but poems of places and intimate realizations, a soul journal rather than a personal diary. This is the work of a young artist yet infinitely mature, at ease with the truth or perhaps urged to tell it, as revealed in La Frontera ("i am the black point that wanders / on the outskirts of luck") or La Confesion ("I put my most pure thoughts up for sale / I want to forget this whole idea of "truth" / I'll keep as my guides only pleasure and guilt"). In many ways, Lhasa is a daughter of Frieda Kalho, both for her loyalty to be just who she is and, you'd understand this if you've seen Frieda's paintings, because the more profoundly Mexican she turns, the more universal she becomes. If the full price scares you, jump on the marketseller's copies -no shame on saving money to bask on its beauty- and when yours arrives, wait 'til it's late and quiet, and play it. Let the words touch you as warm breezes and the immaculately spare arrangements caress you as memories, provide the night and Lhasa will bring the truth. The road lives, and your life will recognize its turns and joys, Then, you may be ready for tomorrow because "soon this space will be too small / and I'll go outside / to the huge hillside / where the wild wind blows / and the cold stars shine."

I am totally in love with this album! I can listen to it over and over! Lhasa's voice is absolutely beautiful and the musicians on the album are very talented. Lhasa has been compared to Bjork...so if you are a Bjork fan, you will probably love this album. I also like that all of the lyrics in Spanish and French are translated into English. I have both of her albums and they are different from one another. The Living Road is equally as good, if not better than La Llorna. I highly recommend it!

...and kind of odd, the more i really LISTEN to the lyrics on this album, the more easily my college french and spanish melt back into my memory and i am able to enjoy the sentiment of these songs as well as the lilting, wistful melodies. although they are, at their heart, a bit repetitive in some cases, one doesn't notice as you fall into her plaintive and rich voice.

the first time i heard Lhasa de la Sela was at a friend's dance recital; one of the pieces was set to MY NAME, and it has stuck in my throat ever since. i think of it on a spiritual level, as one singing to their maker or source rather than just any one person...nice about her work that it leaves much to interpretation.

this is a great mood cd, to stick in the player if you want a rich background for whatever you're doing, but also listenable over and over again for long road trips when you want to completely lose yourself in the music.

I was initially surprised by the music because I bought La Llorona first. I loved La Llorona for its traditional feel. The Living Road is different but is also such a beautiful cd, I'd recommend it to anyone. The mixture of French, English and Spanish is wonderful.