Alisa amador series#

“I think we all go through those moments when we feel like we belong in more than just one place and we feel that we want to be everywhere at the same time.” I enjoyed her voice and the way she sort of embraced her ‘confusion’ through her song,” iLe added.

“Alisa Amador felt simply soothing and pleasant to listen to. Related: Robert Plant, Alison Krauss Deliver ‘Raise The Roof’ Tracks For ‘Tiny Desk (Home) Concert’ That feeling is also in the spaciousness of her acoustic guitar playing.” “I don’t speak Spanish, yet her yearning voice conveyed what I needed to know about her and the song, a song I think of as wondering and questioning one’s place in life. “With thousands of entries it’s always a tough choice, but Alisa’s voice is what puts it over the top for me,” Bob Boilen said of the panel’s selection. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico by a panel of judges including Tiny Desk creator and host of All Songs Considered Bob Boilen Tiny Desk producer Bobby Carter, singer Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast, rapper Big K.R.I.T, singer-songwriter Raveena, Puerto Rican singer iLe and jazz critic Nate Chinen from WBGO. Her performance was selected from among thousands of submissions from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S.

Alisa amador series#

Related: Allen Stone Performs On NPR’s ‘Tiny Desk Concert’ Series The winning song was the first song she submitted sung entirely in Spanish. The Boston-based singer-songwriter will perform at NPR‘s Tiny Desk before embarking on the Tiny Desk Contest On The Road national tour at the end of the month.Īfter submitting a Contest entry every year since 2018, Alisa Amador fatefully chose “Milonga accidental” as her 2022 submission. This article was originally published on December 09, 2020.NPR Music has announced the winner of the eighth edition of the Tiny Desk Contest: Alisa Amador. You could still listen to the track via the streaming service embed above. Note: The audio for The ARTery's music premieres comes down after the track is released. “Little by little, I'm realizing that I don't have to hide any parts of myself when I share what I've made.”Īlisa Amador's ' Red Balloon/Milonga Accidental' is out Dec. “I'm in the process of making a home in my multitudes of music,” Amador says. “Cuando sentiré mi hogar en mi voz?” she sings over a syncopated milonga rhythm. “Milonga Accidental,” which is written in Spanish, addresses some of these worries. “I just used to worry about fitting into a box,” Amador says. The experience was formative, as was “seeing how seriously my parents took their work as composers and interpreters and the intense presence that they had with each song,” Amador says.īut life as New England-based, Latinx folk singers was not without its complexities. The family used to go on tour together, with Alisa and her twin brother singing backup to her father’s bilingual children’s songs. The Cambridge singer grew up in a musical and multilingual household her parents, Brian and Rosi Amador, founded the Latin-roots band Sol y Canto. Amador seemed for all the world like a budding neo-soul belter in the mold of Amy Winehouse or Emily King now, she shares more with quiet, probing folk of singers like Adrianne Lenker or Joan Shelley.īut Amador says that, rather than reflect a shift in her songwriting, “Red Balloon” and “Milonga Accidental” are simply expressions of her polyglot influences. They’re quieter, more contemplative, than the songs on her 2018 EP “Salt,” which showcased a big voice and jazz-inflected melodies. “Red Balloon” and its accompanying “B-side” single, “Milonga Accidental,” are Amador’s first releases in nearly three years. “And the song just takes it right out to the surface.” “Songwriting, for me, is like going to the bottom of the well, like the thing you buried the deepest inside of you that's troubling you, but you don't want to face,” Amador says.

Cover art for Alisa Amador's 'Red Balloon/Milonga Accidental.' (Courtesy)Īmador wrote “Red Balloon” to process her blossoming feelings for someone. The song is about the apprehension that comes with falling in love: it’s beautiful, but potentially destructive. “I pray it hits the beach,” she sings, as a string ensemble swells above whispery finger-picked guitar. Catching sight of a balloon rising in the distance, Amador worries it might land in the ocean. The first thought in Alisa Amador’s “Red Balloon” is fear.