Reviews
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"... Luminary talent ... global vision ..."-- New Age Voice"Beautifully executed and arranged melodies bringing a perfect union of the Golden Age of Spain to the Modern Day world. Consuelo Luz's voice soothes and inspires the soul of Judaism. An excellent and powerful work"-- Levi Ben Macario, Mi Seferino"Consuelo's voice captures the reverent, often mystical elements of Sephardic songs, Spanish ballads, Middle Eastern rhythms and flamenco. She also infuses her renditions with contemporary beats ... a more genuine version of what Madonna's been doing lately ..."-- Sarah Meadows, The Santa Fe Reporter"... Buy "Tulku" just to hear Consuelo Luz ..."-- Creation Magazine |
"... A shining star in the firmament of Sephardic Music ..."-- David Steinberg, Arts Editor, Albuquerque Journal"I love all of it. I saved Ki Mitzion for my pledge drive program ... I think the song is extraordinary ... Thank you for this wonderful album! It is clearly a spiritual statement and an act of love."-- Carol Greenspan, KOPN, Columbia, MO"A great recording ... it will certainly get airplay ..."-- David Weide, KUNV, Las Vegas"... Outstanding ..."-- Kutay Derin Kugay, KPFA, San Francisco
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"... Luz's voice is smoky and sultry, closer to Sade, Anita Baker, or her fellow Cuban, Celia Cruz. Luz ... was raised as a Catholic [in Chile, Peru, Italy, Greece and the Philippines by Chilean/Cuban parents], only to discover and embrace her Jewish heritage later in life. In Cuba, she imbibed its tropicality, and it glows through her recent release, Dezeo."Dezeo" is Ladino for "desire" and the album explores both romantic and spiritual yearning, dedicating about half the tracks to each kind of longing. Luz's vocals are breathy, earthy, and altogether sophisticated. The music itself is stunningly played, evoking both tricky Latin rhythms and insinuating Arabic overtones, ending up somewhere near the Portuguese fado style." -- Paul Wieder, JUF News, Chicago
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Brains, talent and energy are but the vehicle for Consuelo Luz to convey her message
Published March 10, 2005 in Tempo, the arts and entertainment magazine of The Taos News
Taos
I came to you, naked
like a woman giving birth
ready to scream
and let go of my dark history
You held me in your humble, glorious arms
made of beauty impossible to explain
- Consuelo Luz
Poet, singer-songwriter Consuelo Luz has just released a new album, "Missing Water." I've come to expect a high standard of work from Luz ever since I first heard her read her poem "Taos" at Caffe Tazza several years ago. The poem, published by Pennywhistle Press, in a wonderful bilingual anthology, "Saludos! Poems of New Mexico," captures what so many of us feel when we first discover this magical place.
Luz tapped the magic in 1973 when she moved to Taos. She remembers thriving spiritually as she raised two sons and a daughter in mountain villages where she "learned to treasure the wisdom and beauty of the local culture and its spiritual ties to the land." She sang in churches and cantinas, "learned to make adobes and cedar coyote fences, went for firewood in the forests, chopped wood and hauled water from the river."
Because she was a Spanish singer living in the mountains of Northern New Mexico, Rabbi Chavah Carp approached her with some ancient Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) prayer songs. "As I discovered the haunting beauty of these songs, I was asked to sing them at religious and social gatherings and have been collecting these songs and singing them ever since." Part of her collection can be found on her acclaimed Sephardic/World Music CD "Dezeo". It's a masterpiece.
Her style is difficult to explain, her Web site describes it as, "adapting ancient Jewish prayers and ballads from Spain, the Mediterranean and the Middle East into new World Music style songs in a passionate marriage of Jewish and Latin soul." She could be called a folk singer if not for the cosmopolitan arrangement and instrumentation in her music. It's as if every nuance of the song was analyzed and even the pauses were considered.
In 1984, she moved to Santa Fe where she has continued to pursue her writing and music, along with a busy schedule as a social activist. Like many people, she recalls that the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were "a wake up call for me. My consciousness was lifted to a new level and I could not rest until I was satisfied that I had thoroughly investigated what was really going on in the world." She read, researched, and conversed with others on the same path. "Who is accountable? As governments become irrelevant, it becomes up to the people to take responsibility for our Earth. We are the ones we've been waiting for."
This led her to "Missing Water", an incredible album filled with questions, protests, answers and love. The centerpiece of the release is the powerful song, "How Much Can Our Hearts Take?". She first performed it at a concert in Santa Fe in late 2002, as the threat of war once again gripped the country. The audience was moved and she was besieged with requests for a recorded version, but Luz felt something was missing.
The next time, she performed it at a peace rally. Her 20-year-old son, hip-hop artist Max Paz, joined her with his rap. His fervent verse completed the song. Renowned producer, Larry Mitchell stepped in to record it for her album. She explains, "The song seemed to take on a life of its own. With war looming, a rough mix started getting air play on KTAO." Soon other stations were requesting copies and now the BBC plays it often.
It's a "cross-generational musical journey through awareness of the costs of war and our present system to an embracing of the whole world," expressed by a mother and son joining together to convey something we should all be concerned about. It is worth the price of the CD but she believes the message is so important that you can download it free from her Web site at www.consueloluz.com.
She has another free download available, her brand new song, "What Would Jesus Do?" She describes it as exploring her interpretation of "true Christian values at a time when the term 'Christian' is being used for some political purposes that seem far removed from Jesus' teachings."
Although, "How Much Can Our Hearts Take?" steals most of the attention, there are 10 other songs that should not be ignored. That, in fact, cannot be forgotten once you hear them.
Remember, Luz is a poet with a passionate pen. "Missing Water", reminds me that all of her CDs possess excellent production and musicianship. This one credits 18 different contributors, but they all act to frame the multicolored, mountainess landscape that is her voice. Her inflections and emotions give so much that she could be singing a recipe for soup and we would want to turn it up, but the poetry in her lyrics, instead, sways our feelings in all directions.
Brandt Legg hosts the weekly radio show, "Spotlight on New Mexico," Sundays 3 - 6 PM on KTAO-FM 101.9 and www.ktao.com. Email him at spotlight@newmex.com.
Poet, singer-songwriter Consuelo Luz has just released a new album, "Missing Water." I've come to expect a high standard of work from Luz ever since I first heard her read her poem "Taos" at Caffe Tazza several years ago. The poem, published by Pennywhistle Press, in a wonderful bilingual anthology, "Saludos! Poems of New Mexico," captures what so many of us feel when we first discover this magical place.
Luz tapped the magic in 1973 when she moved to Taos. She remembers thriving spiritually as she raised two sons and a daughter in mountain villages where she "learned to treasure the wisdom and beauty of the local culture and its spiritual ties to the land." She sang in churches and cantinas, "learned to make adobes and cedar coyote fences, went for firewood in the forests, chopped wood and hauled water from the river."
Because she was a Spanish singer living in the mountains of Northern New Mexico, Rabbi Chavah Carp approached her with some ancient Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) prayer songs. "As I discovered the haunting beauty of these songs, I was asked to sing them at religious and social gatherings and have been collecting these songs and singing them ever since." Part of her collection can be found on her acclaimed Sephardic/World Music CD "Dezeo". It's a masterpiece.
Her style is difficult to explain, her Web site describes it as, "adapting ancient Jewish prayers and ballads from Spain, the Mediterranean and the Middle East into new World Music style songs in a passionate marriage of Jewish and Latin soul." She could be called a folk singer if not for the cosmopolitan arrangement and instrumentation in her music. It's as if every nuance of the song was analyzed and even the pauses were considered.
In 1984, she moved to Santa Fe where she has continued to pursue her writing and music, along with a busy schedule as a social activist. Like many people, she recalls that the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were "a wake up call for me. My consciousness was lifted to a new level and I could not rest until I was satisfied that I had thoroughly investigated what was really going on in the world." She read, researched, and conversed with others on the same path. "Who is accountable? As governments become irrelevant, it becomes up to the people to take responsibility for our Earth. We are the ones we've been waiting for."
This led her to "Missing Water", an incredible album filled with questions, protests, answers and love. The centerpiece of the release is the powerful song, "How Much Can Our Hearts Take?". She first performed it at a concert in Santa Fe in late 2002, as the threat of war once again gripped the country. The audience was moved and she was besieged with requests for a recorded version, but Luz felt something was missing.
The next time, she performed it at a peace rally. Her 20-year-old son, hip-hop artist Max Paz, joined her with his rap. His fervent verse completed the song. Renowned producer, Larry Mitchell stepped in to record it for her album. She explains, "The song seemed to take on a life of its own. With war looming, a rough mix started getting air play on KTAO." Soon other stations were requesting copies and now the BBC plays it often.
It's a "cross-generational musical journey through awareness of the costs of war and our present system to an embracing of the whole world," expressed by a mother and son joining together to convey something we should all be concerned about. It is worth the price of the CD but she believes the message is so important that you can download it free from her Web site at www.consueloluz.com. She has another free download available, her brand new song, "What Would Jesus Do?" She describes it as exploring her interpretation of "true Christian values at a time when the term 'Christian' is being used for some political purposes that seem far removed from Jesus' teachings."
Although, "How Much Can Our Hearts Take?" steals most of the attention, there are 10 other songs that should not be ignored. That, in fact, cannot be forgotten once you hear them.
Remember, Luz is a poet with a passionate pen. "Missing Water", reminds me that all of her CDs possess excellent production and musicianship. This one credits 18 different contributors, but they all act to frame the multicolored, mountainess landscape that is her voice. Her inflections and emotions give so much that she could be singing a recipe for soup and we would want to turn it up, but the poetry in her lyrics, instead, sways our feelings in all directions.
Luz tapped the magic in 1973 when she moved to Taos. She remembers thriving spiritually as she raised two sons and a daughter in mountain villages where she "learned to treasure the wisdom and beauty of the local culture and its spiritual ties to the land." She sang in churches and cantinas, "learned to make adobes and cedar coyote fences, went for firewood in the forests, chopped wood and hauled water from the river."
Because she was a Spanish singer living in the mountains of Northern New Mexico, Rabbi Chavah Carp approached her with some ancient Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) prayer songs. "As I discovered the haunting beauty of these songs, I was asked to sing them at religious and social gatherings and have been collecting these songs and singing them ever since." Part of her collection can be found on her acclaimed Sephardic/World Music CD "Dezeo". It's a masterpiece.
Her style is difficult to explain, her Web site describes it as, "adapting ancient Jewish prayers and ballads from Spain, the Mediterranean and the Middle East into new World Music style songs in a passionate marriage of Jewish and Latin soul." She could be called a folk singer if not for the cosmopolitan arrangement and instrumentation in her music. It's as if every nuance of the song was analyzed and even the pauses were considered.
In 1984, she moved to Santa Fe where she has continued to pursue her writing and music, along with a busy schedule as a social activist. Like many people, she recalls that the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were "a wake up call for me. My consciousness was lifted to a new level and I could not rest until I was satisfied that I had thoroughly investigated what was really going on in the world." She read, researched, and conversed with others on the same path. "Who is accountable? As governments become irrelevant, it becomes up to the people to take responsibility for our Earth. We are the ones we've been waiting for."
This led her to "Missing Water", an incredible album filled with questions, protests, answers and love. The centerpiece of the release is the powerful song, "How Much Can Our Hearts Take?". She first performed it at a concert in Santa Fe in late 2002, as the threat of war once again gripped the country. The audience was moved and she was besieged with requests for a recorded version, but Luz felt something was missing.
The next time, she performed it at a peace rally. Her 20-year-old son, hip-hop artist Max Paz, joined her with his rap. His fervent verse completed the song. Renowned producer, Larry Mitchell stepped in to record it for her album. She explains, "The song seemed to take on a life of its own. With war looming, a rough mix started getting air play on KTAO." Soon other stations were requesting copies and now the BBC plays it often.
It's a "cross-generational musical journey through awareness of the costs of war and our present system to an embracing of the whole world," expressed by a mother and son joining together to convey something we should all be concerned about. It is worth the price of the CD but she believes the message is so important that you can download it free from her Web site at www.consueloluz.com. She has another free download available, her brand new song, "What Would Jesus Do?" She describes it as exploring her interpretation of "true Christian values at a time when the term 'Christian' is being used for some political purposes that seem far removed from Jesus' teachings."
Although, "How Much Can Our Hearts Take?" steals most of the attention, there are 10 other songs that should not be ignored. That, in fact, cannot be forgotten once you hear them.
Remember, Luz is a poet with a passionate pen. "Missing Water", reminds me that all of her CDs possess excellent production and musicianship. This one credits 18 different contributors, but they all act to frame the multicolored, mountainess landscape that is her voice. Her inflections and emotions give so much that she could be singing a recipe for soup and we would want to turn it up, but the poetry in her lyrics, instead, sways our feelings in all directions.