Some instruments are impossible to ignore...

Do we actually hear anything in the present? Is the song, note by note, coming out of Tania’s throat, actually being sung in front of me?

As I sit in the dark, I realize I could very well be listening to my memories. Could I even tell the memory of the sound and the sound itself apart…?

As I join her quietly while she barely whispers Alfonsina ‘a capella’, I realize that like her, I’m singing out of memory… the entire theatre is mute. Royce Hall is almost to capacity and after a wrenching interpretation, Tania Libertad’s broken lament sends Stormi’s spirit off.

"Quién dijo que todo esta perdido...? yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazón..." For reasons unexplained, Tania's Music Director was held by LA Immigration Authorities @ LAX. You can certainly guess though: the fact that although a Mexican national she was born in Cuba.

Inside Tania’s body there resides a voice too powerful for its vessel to hold. As the sung notes traverse her body, it helplessly arches with the taut tension of a bow of war: a note slips past her throat, the mic amplifies it and suddenly, there’s something like a dagger stuck precisely across your soul. Your body, ignorant, reverts to savage hours when it first confronted the unknown: Goosebumps lurch themselves forward. A shiver trickles down the spine and lingers on.

Sing Tania, sing me an Argentinean Tango to the rhythm of an afro-Peruvian Landó. Sing like you did for me thousands of miles away, -Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, teatro Manuel Doblado…- a very long time ago. Sing something to me so that I can get out of my memories and finally land in this world.

I hear her voice in between songs. I shake my head off.

Has it been that long already Tania? I was a teenager, you, already a performer known in your own country and abroad. I was sent to cover the event for my local paper. You had of course, gotten the Manuel Doblado theatre in its feet with the public in a total uproar.

Do you remember? Someone, like here at Royce Hall, made sure to get you red roses. You then started your encore with Para Vivir and people behind me, I remember still today, started to sob.

Here in LA, listening to Tania Libertad sing a wide repertoire of Latin American favorites all thrown into the style fusion blender, I recall myself at a much younger age and the thought suddenly makes me feel old.

Tania’s voice however, is still intact, still immaculate, not one day older… still a machine of awe. She can still put the mic aside and have each member of the audience –hall big or small- be pierced by the slender lashes that vibrate off her voice. You could never ignore this voice. Even if she wasn’t your favorite singer, like in the case say, of a Nina Simone, these are women whose vocal instruments are virtually impossible to ignore.

You’d have to be dead no to be moved. And Royce Hall showed it. As she did her entire encore, one musician at a time left the stage until finally, she was left onstage alone. No musicians, no props, just her, the immense stage and a spot light on. In the entire theatre, one could hear a pin drop. She launched the first line a capella: “Por la blanca arena que bate el mar/su pequeña huella no vuelve más…”

And she kept the microphone off.

As the concert ended with the entire audience standing, people screamed and clapped on. And on… and

A Latinamerican jukebox mixed with Tania's voice is nothing but 'Cielito Lindo'... a wondrous heaven. Accompanied by master musicians from Mexico, Cuba and her native Peru, she is one mesmerizing chanteusse.

on… until she respectfully asked the crowd to hold. And one by one, her entire music ensemble came back on.

You could see tears in her eyes as the public continued with the longest applause. It had been a very emotional night for her… (her music director, for reasons unexplained to them, was detained by LA immigration authorities after landing here on a national flight from NY. Having all her visa papers in place and being a Mexican national but born in Cuba, it was suspected by everyone that the detention had to be politically motivated.)

It should come to no surprise to anyone that this government does in fact, sanction those who criticize it. Tania Libertad herself has been a prominent singer of the now famous –or for capitalist standards, infamous- and politically charged musical genre Nueva Trova Cubana (New Cuban Song). Other prominent singers like Pablo Milanes and Silvio Rodriguez have been also denied artist’s visas to come here and tour.

In the present political atmosphere that pervades this land, the demons this administration needs to justify their monstrously disproportionate budgets have to be created out of smoke: Cuban? Artist? Wait, that’s two big red flags for our brilliant Homeland Security Folks. Let’s see, procedure ABC, uh, 123… four. Aha, yep, you’re detained. It says here we got the right to inconvenience you on behalf of our security codes. Yep, you might just try to sneak back in all those missiles we dismantled at Pig’s Bay long ago. In fact, how do I know that is really a Yamaha keyboard you’ve got there?

You should worry immensely. Now running the government you have Dumb and Dumber. And to make matters worse, they don’t even need to be smarter to get away with it all. You and I have let them plunder and rock and roll. We’ve let them practice the oldest of the power schemes tried by mankind: fear and loath, embezzle and rob.

For some years now, one of your best places to see some of your favorite latin acts is none other than UCLA Live!

In that sense, forget the political diatribes and refuge yourself inside your soul. In this sense also, Genuinely meaningful Art is your best ally. It keeps you honest. It keeps you raw. It makes you less confident of the status quo. It prevents you from getting numbed and ideologically obese by forcing you to jab against conformity, by forcing you to stay on your tip toes.

Art makes you less gullible, less prone to be a customer of poorly orchestrated lies and half truths. Less afraid of abstract ‘enemies’. Less prone to justify war.

LA wouldn’t shine as brightly if we didn’t have artistic and cultural programming such as the one put together by UCLA Live. For a chance, this entire town has been lifted from the boot straps and challenged to upgrade its intake of culture and art. For once, LA isn’t just about the movies or the Oscars. And for that, thank David Sefton before you actually thank God.

Tania Libertad is just one of the dozens of world class musicians gracing the Royce Hall stage for all of us Angelenos to enjoy. For a complete program calendar, make sure you visit their site at www.uclalive.org .

Art of this caliber still depends on your wholehearted support. Do your part. Become an ally to organizations committed to diversity and open discourse. The alternative is awful: cheeseburgers and cheap rock and roll.