Lhasa, World on 3, BBC Radio 3, 25 May 2009
Three albums in ten years suggests admirable restraint for this Montreal-based singer, whose first album La Llorena was as mysterious as a flying saucer, an enigmatic message from outer space. Sung in a deep contralto voice entirely in Spanish, with no explanatory sleeve note, biography or photo, the album was little known in the UK but attracted devoted followers elsewhere, especially in Spain and France. I never fully surrendered to that one, but five years later was entranced by The Living Road, which has six songs in Spanish, two in French and four in English. Now we have the third, simply titled Lhasa, sung solely in English.
We had never met before, but I knew we should get along fine after witnessing Lhasa’s fascinating set at the Jazz Café back in 2003. I wondered if she remembered it, as one of a string of dates on that European tour. “Oh yes,â€