British singer Corinne Bailey Rae didn’t lie when, right before playing A Spell, A Prayer, invited the audience to ,“… to a spell of pleasure”. Corinne entered the stage like a wizard, wrapped in cloak resembling Merlin’s one, rocked by her band’s music ready to bewitch.
words: Marcos Leal (edited and freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Marcos Leal
At each rest, Corinne spoke of the inspiration behind each song of her latest record, composed after a visit to the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicado, a 1923 bank building turned arts and archive center for the people of South Side.
An exhibition with strong afro-american and racial segregation in the United States, curated by Theaster Gates, lead Corinne to a number of objects that would be the driving force behind Black Rainbows. Given the diversity of influences and Corinne’ need to properly live express the feelings brought by the inspirational objects the record proved to be very dynamic in concert.
Some may had been surprised by such versatility from the singer when New York Transic Queen (an old beauty pageant) was performed in a more rock way, steaming from a photo of former model Audrey Smaltz, that took Corinne to compose a more rebellious and feminist song.
The evening highlight was Put it Down, introduzido by the story of a party at Stony Island Arts Bank in celebration of dj Frankie Knuckles. Corinne tells that at the entrance there was a big jar where people would drop a piece of paper with whatever worried or tormented them.
At a point, fire was thrown inside the jar and everyone danced as a community like what had been written in those pieces of paperhsd stop having so much weight upon people. And that was how,, in Put it Down, the audience was contaminated by the music dancing and smiling along Corinne in the middle of room, a few hugs and emotional words shinning in their faces.
Music really has an incredible power and Corinne and her fantastic musicians turned the night into a celebration and freedom of the worries that torment our days making us forget the outer world for a little bit.
Mondo Bizarre Magazine 