LA SHICA. ‘TRABAJITO DE CHINOS’ LIVE
Against what’s uniform
Silvia Calado. Madrid, April 1st, 2009
‘Trabajito de chinos’.
La Shica: vocals, baile. Fernando de la
Rúa: guitar. Miguel Rodrigáñez: contrabass.
Héctor González: keyboards. Pablo Martín:
percussion. La Popi, Guadalupe Torres: choruses, baile.
Sala Galileo. Madrid, April 1st, 2009. 9:30 p.m.
The concerts at the Contraclub now seem
like they’re from another era. With its minute stage,
with its jam-packed little crowd, with just enough songs,
with a provisional name. But the sensation that it was a
different show continues to be the same. La Shica has had
albums, prizes, press and gigs for over a year now. And
those who were formerly surprised by the firm manners of
that bailaora with the shaven head who sang softly can now
enjoy her properly, finding out by the huge posters up all
over Madrid, buying their tickets in advance by Internet
and sitting in their seats.
It turns out that in this world which tends
so much to uniformity, the peculiar has double merit. And
in a concert by this group, it’s precisely what prevails.
The group in itself gets away from the usual, combining
flamenco guitar played with a Brazilian accent by Fernando
de la Rúa, contrabass, percussions, keyboards and
two chorus singers with ‘Record’ and ‘Company’.
Not to mention, a neighborhood folk and cabaret artist,
a little clownish and quite dramatic, who rides a bike,
raps, has the mike stand full of little lights, wears leggings
with a miniskirt and adorns the lyrics with stances and
heel tapping. Who cares if she isn’t a virtuoso singer!
The concert at the Galileo, with its performance
and visual feature, fed on versions of Spanish coplas, songs
of their own upon flamenco rhythms and the ineludible encore
of ‘Bruja avería’. ‘María
de la O’ with expressionist lighting and dark stuff
served to kick things off. They continued with their song
‘Lloro’, a very peculiar way of focusing song
por bulerías and which is a much better example of
their idiosyncrasy than the crumpled tonadilla. Next came
“world premieres”, calls out to Lola Flores,
interactions with the abundant audience, many choreographed
numbers and of course, the hit ‘Zíngara rapera’.
The song about the addict to changing rooms, a harsh street
tale, “I love you a lot but not every day”,
some joking lyrics and the song “about black love”
- which is an autobiographical denunciation of the maltreatment
of women - were also part of the kaleidoscopic recital.
And yes, they’re more formal and more polished, but
above all, what they are is more charismatic... more ‘lashica’.
