What's an artist to do when, instead of standing and dancing before a stadium of adoring fans, she's sitting behind the Tiny Desk?
You do exactly what Puerto Rican vocalist Kany García does: dig deep into the intimacy of her songwriting and the musicality of one of the most distinctive voices in any form of Latin music.
The first track of her set, "Para Siempre," perfectly embodies a seductive declaration of togetherness with lyrics like: "I want to be the desire that brings you home every night." In "Mundo Inventado," the full power of her songwriting has me lost in my feels, as she sings of the plight of all immigrants everywhere who leave the known for the unknown. (Where is my tissue? I have something in my eye.)
She closes the set with her song whose profane title can't be written out fully but is as common as the sound of traffic across Latin America: "DPM (De Pxta Madre)." In García's masterful hands it becomes a colorful way to express the ups and downs of emotions of even the briefest romantic episode.
If there was ever any doubt that García brings the skills of one of the best lyricists of Latin America to the world of Spanish pop music, this performance proves it. It feels like she is singing her very personal messages of desire and longing just for me.
Uh, I mean, for all of us.
SET LIST
- "Para Siempre"
- "Búscame"
- "Mundo Inventado"
- "DPM (De Pxta Madre)"
MUSICIANS
- Kany García: lead vocals, steel guitar, ukulele
- Cristian F. Rivera: music director, steel guitar, ukulele, background vocals
- Olga I. González: background vocals, shaker, tambourine
- Ricardo Rodríguez: classical guitar, background vocals
- Antonio Alonso: drums, percussion, background vocals
- Bryan Pérez: bass
- José M. Gómez: keyboard, accordion, background vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producers: Felix Conteras, Anamaria Sayre
- Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
- Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
- Creative Director: Bob Boilen
- Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Elizabeth Gillis, Michael Zamora
- Audio Assistant: Neil Tevault
- Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
- Photographer: Estefania Mitre
- Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Hazel Cills, Kara Frame
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
- Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
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