Image: Sergio Betancort
The Insular Theater of Lanzarote hosted this Wednesday the concert 'Ellas3', a show in which three of the best female voices of the Canary Islands, Chiqui Pérez, Fabiola Socas and Esther Ovejero paid musical tribute to respective divas of jazz, traditional Brazilian music and soul, respectively. The 'Ellas3' project, referring to the great artists Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis Regina and Etta James, has the backing of an excellent band of musicians directed and led by the Canarian saxophonist Kike Perdomo.
A show that began with an instrumental theme, with which Kike Perdomo and his band of excellent musicians, -Francis Hernández, on piano, Sergio Díaz, on drums; José Carlos Machado, with the double bass; and Jonay Martín, on guitar - who laid the foundations to set the stage for what was to come.
The three Canarian singers came on stage, who performed several songs together, plus some duets between Fabiola Socas with Chiqui Pérez, and the latter with Esther Ovejero. Thus, Chiqui Pérez was the first to pay her particular tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, with three songs and a great staging and an excellent voice, worthy of the songs of the great lady of jazz.
Fabiola Socas, a priori the least musically close to the chosen diva, pleasantly surprised the public with that parenthesis she made to the American sound of the 50s, by the hand of the great Ellis Regina. An 'aside' with the accent and sweetness of the Brazilian bossa nova, to which she added some notes of eccentric peculiarity and a sophisticated version of a Vinicius classic. A soft delicacy offered by a voice that embroiders the folías but has many more registers.
The dessert of the night came with Esther Ovejero's tribute to Etta James, in a performance full of strength in which the singer broke and tore with her black voice, her exotic beauty and her brilliant staging. Ovejero moved very comfortably between the extremes of Etta James, from the powerful Purple Rain to the soft and sensual I just want to make love to you.
That was supposedly the end point, although the public did not accept it and asked for more. A highly requested encore to which the artists responded with an instrumental theme and two other themes performed by the three. The last of them, to the rhythm of samba.
'Ellas3' has been, in short, a unique and special concert, as well as an extraordinary one that has also triumphed in Lanzarote after having reaped many successes throughout the Archipelago. A show that has come to Lanzarote under the umbrella of the cultural agenda of the IX Summer University of Lanzarote.
