Emotional Wainwright offers tributes to Piaf, mother
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/06/2010 (5557 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
It’s not easy to capture the essence of a legendary singer like the little sparrow without risking caricature.
But Martha Wainwright succeeds in her homage to the great French chanteuse Edith Piaf, which she performed Sunday for a clearly appreciative audience at the TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival.
Wainwright wisely stays away from Piaf trademarks like La vie en rose, favouring instead lesser-know tunes she was drawn to as much for the songwriting as the singing.
Her performance of Piaf, sung in French, was as much about the voice as an instrument to evoke emotion –you don’t have to understand the lyrics to get the message of joy or anger.
Wainwright, backed by piano, bass and guitar, immersed herself in the stories Piaf told. For example, she described Marie Trottoir as a song that "shows respect for an old hooker… it’s sweet, it’s a good attitude."
Les Blouses Blanches was more discordant than Piaf’s usual fare as it related to a stay in a hospital psychiatric ward. Although, as Wainwright pointed out, many of Piaf’s songs end with someone dying.
Wainwright’s Piaf recording, Sans Fusil, Ni Souliers, a Paris includes accordion but not, as she explained onstage, L’Accordéoniste, which didn’t suffer for its lack of the title instrument.
If Wainwright paid tribute to Piaf, she gave an immensely more heartfelt tribute to her mother, Kate McGarrigle, on Tell My Sister.
As emotional and evocative as she had been on the Piaf material, she let it all hang out on the song by her mother, who died in January after performing on the Piaf recording.
Wainwright did both Piaf and McGarrigle proud Sunday night.
— — —
Opening act José James and Jef Neve took a tour through classic songs from Memphis Slim’s Every Day I Have the Blues to Billy Strayhorn’s Lush Life to Hoagy Carmichael’s Georgia On My Mind in a set of stylized vocals (James) and good piano (Nef).
They are a real duo, sharing the work and the spotlight, rather than a singer with an accompanist.
James had some family on his mind, too. His mother and grandmother travelled from Minneapolis to see the London-based singer perform.
chris.smith@freepress.mb.ca
Concert Review
Martha Wainwright Sings Edith Piaf
TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival
Pantages Playhouse Theatre
June 27 attendance: 860
HHHH out of HHHHH