The beautifully tender-voiced Juana Luna, an Argentine-born singer-songwriter, is the bright new face of the local folk scene.
When Ms. Luna, a Bushwick resident, plays her harp and sings, she is undeniably bursting with talent. And now, her forthcoming debut self-titled album has branched her out to playing at the Rockwood Music Hall next month.
After having arrived in Brooklyn five years ago by way of Boston’s Berklee College of Music, the 29-year-old Ms. Luna took her fragile, earthy, melancholy folk-singing to many local café-bars and Bushwick audiences. Her stage presence is inherently Argentine: expressing the soul-emoting joys and sufferings of being a person in our oftentimes filth-filled and occasionally peace-filled world.
All that said, there are many solid reasons behind why this album will be a success, “Amor de Conuco” has a wonderful folk rhythm. Ms. Luna’s deployment of her powerful, even otherworldly falsetto-mixed-with-chest-voiced melodies brings an elegance to such ballads as “Oración de Remanso” and “Canción de Cuna”.
What’s delightful and effective about this spellbinding music is that there is no politically outraged edge. She cannot help but steer clear of the mean (and murderous) Milo Y. right, the sociopathic bankstery center, and the uptight millennial left. Her sonorous, sexy notes have something grander (and nicer) in mind. This folk performer makes us wallow unashamedly in our nostalgia for the passionate alto voice of Mercedes Sosa and American folk artists like Judy Collins and Pete Seeger.
To purchase some of these beautiful tracks visit here.
