Geo Meneses
04/12/2008 - By Victor Roura
Latin singer
SOME SINGERS hold a microphone in their hands when on stage. Georgina Meneses holds her heart in her hands.
SOME SINGERS act out their songs when on stage. Georgina Meneses, through her very flesh and blood, is herself the content of the songs: emotions and feelings. In other words, the truth.
THIS SINGER FROM OAXACA has attained –in record time– the production of four albums and the recognition of the most expert, demanding and prestigious critics.
TO HEAR HER VOICE, naked, in live concert, gives proof of the legitimacy of that recognition.
GEORGINA MENESES PUTS INTO WORDS, exudes, breathes and lends shape, but most of all delves deeply into even the slightest of intervals in the songs.
SHE SINGS WITH TRUTH and thus has the ability to stir deeply. Her music is imbued with truths, feelings, and emotions… all delivered with overwhelming forthrightness. Hence, she can hypnotize both expert audiences and young audiences.
THANKS TO THESE VIRTUES, Georgina Meneses immediately conquers the hearts of her listeners, both at live concerts and through her recordings.
THE FIRST OF HER RECORDINGS, 1998, titled Porque así tenía que ser (The Way it Had to Be), is a collection of golden boleros written from the thirties through the fifties last century. This album is like a spear that pierces the heart.
TWO YEARS LATER comes Hasta hoy estoy contigo (With You Till Today), a thorn embedded in the guitar that a sleeping Jesús Chu Rasgado clutched until both man and guitar were wakened by the scorching sun at some crossroad –trademark of the blues– in the Tehuantepec Isthmus. This album, for contemporary ears, features one of the most stirring works in the history of the music of Mexico: the songs of Chu Rasgado, a legend himself, a myth that takes on life every time one uses one’s throat to exude the pith and honey, fused with mezcal, that Rasgado´s broken verses are made of. The deep stirring of the soul this experience elicits equals that produced by Richard Wagner’s tetralogy, the wrenching blues of John Lee Hooker (Moanin’ the blues, preferably), the lethargic sighing of a bison in heat, or the intense red of sunset on the horizon of high seas as witnessed from the edge of a dream.
IN THE THIRD ALBUM, Ausencia (Absence), Georgina Meneses enriches Tata Nacho’s work. The classical pieces –Adios mi Chaparrita, Ausencia, La Borrachita and Así es mi tierra–, among others, take on a different dimension from that of mere folklore or from that of a souvenir postcard in sepia, the format to assuage the entertainment industry. These new versions imbue the songs with the hue and aroma of fresh field flowers.
THE FOURTH ALBUM this formidable singer has produced is titled De la Farra y el Dolor (On Debauchery and Pain), and it does justice to the best of the timeless work of Maestro Alvaro Carrillo. The qualities of Georgina Meneses’ voice, the intelligence, the caliber of the strictly musical arrangements, polish these shining gems to a new sheen, sending them into orbit with their sister songs… other stars, entire galaxies and planets, comets reaching the outermost confines of the constellations.
FOR EVERY TIME a song is performed by Georgina Meneses, the age-old rite of closing one’s eyes and turning one’s face skyward is repeated, a gesture of the soul of man.
GEORGINA MENESES spins our world on that axis of the essence of humankind: feelings and emotions. When she sings, she holds not the microphone in her hands, she holds her heart.
PABLO ESPINOSA, Editor Cultura Diario LA JORNADA
RECORDINGS
Porque así tenia que ser (The Way it Had to Be)
November 1998
The title was, and is, a premonition: The Way it had to be… Georgina Meneses’ first recording, sung with superb depth of voice, in 1998. Ten pieces were chosen for this album, among them a song by Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes… “you came to me without telling me you were coming…” Simply put, the way it had to be. This first offering is a document that hints of future success; a fresh album in which each rendition denotes the firm voice of a true singer who knows where she is headed, what to do with her song, and how to use her rich personality.
Hasta hoy estoy contigo (With You Till Today)
December 2000
The songs of Jesús Chu Rasgado -reckless Bacchic poet, iconoclast of passion, faithlessness and tender yet wild passion- in the voice of a young singer who can fuse and imbue with sensuality, pain, tenderness, desire, life and death as experienced in the Isthmus of Oaxaca.
The pieces recorded by Georgina Meneses remind us that people, far from ivory castles, create the creators of their symbolic, literary and musical worlds; the words of Chu’s songs in the voice of this particular singer take on undertones of tenderness, nostalgia, farewells, pleasure and the perfume of flowers for the dead. In other words, life.
Ausencia (Absence)
September 2001
Without a doubt, the interpreter becomes a medium, moving between a composer, the era and the audience when passion permeates his or her work; Georgina Meneses, among other things, seeks originality and a reassessment of musical, poetic, social and even historic creations. She has achieved all this in her most recent works. This third production is a commentary of Tata Nacho’s work. Her renditions take us to the very edge of the precipice of erotophilia of the human soul.
De la farra y del dolor (On Debauchery and Pain)
June 2003
The fourth album produced by this formidable singer bares her woman’s soul, and breathes new life into the best of the work of poet Álvaro Carrillo. Georgina Meneses’ voice is deep and full of shades that at times appear to be on the brink of passion and at other times lets us see glimpses of pain. Brilliant arrangements for a spectacular voice.
Con Todo el Corazón (With All My Heart)
With all my heart, Georgina Meneses’ fifth album, is accompanied by the Philharmonic Band of Santiago Zacatepec Mixe, Oaxaca. This album is an offering to the good God Cong-Oy and the people; this work bears the perfume of secrets that smell of sacrifice. Georgina’s voice echoes through the mountains, scintillating like the quiet spiraling of incense. The notes that are plucked from the score like tender maize, a dream come true. Joy for the people, the privilege of being human and possessing a voice; this is Georgina Meneses… her heart in her hands.
Amuleto (Amulet)
December 2007
This album fuses a musical vision that is traditional, contemporary and alternative at the same time, result of the personal journey of the songstress. The subtle and original arrangements contribute to generating climates and silences, softness and hardness. Simplicity and complexity are clothed by imposing words and melodies, in which GEO Meneses employs her vocal faculties to the fullest, leading us by the hand through unimaginable universes, lending new colors to songs, shades never before heard in traditional Mexican music.
Whispers of my soul run up and down my body. With every step I sigh, I sigh with what we know as happiness; I realize now that the past and the present are multicolored. Time marches on, relentless. The road is never the same. Pain, uncertainty, fear… I hide them in my heart, remembering every absence with incense made of the flower of forgetfulness. I often sprinkle my melancholy with the salt water that comes from the center of my existence, and on nights brightened by a full moon, nights when secrets smolder, when one bares one’s soul and song, while gazing at the amulet that brown arms placed in the palm of my left hand –woman born—and I murmur an endless melody:
Stardust for dark days, essence of clouds to allay despair, good luck charm to ward off the evil eye, tears of a unicorn to take on the pain of others, grains of rice to stave off selfishness, cinnamon sticks bathed in amber essence for love, four leaf clover to show the way and music that flows upward from the center of the earth... weave your existence of all these.
Whether a premonition, magic or mere fate, my music becomes for me hope, protection, joy, my reason for living. The best of all good luck amulets. When my hopes wane, I grasp the truth of a song; with each sound my heart discovers joy or my soul weeps its sorrows, to be reborn in hope that all will be well.
All this, and more, cause me to feel much joy in sharing these songs of the soul, life companions, charms against all that which goes against the peace and happiness of being and feeling alive, sweetly and simply alive. Things of the heart are thus: sweet and simple.
I hope you enjoy this album… get ready to feel alive.
GEO
A SUCCESS... her voice fuses –thanks to that powerful and unique range she attains– the dark rich tones of a Cesaria Evora and the complexity of a Toni Childs, though at the same time we come across the tender depths of an Edith Piaf and the fiery independence of a Lucha Reyes. It suffices to hear her once to know that GEO is no fleeting star.
Victor Roura, EL FINANCIERO
MARVELOUS... There are singers who hold a microphone in their hands when on stage. What GEO holds is her heart. She sings with truth, and moves us deeply. Her music is filled with feelings and emotions, and she presents it with overwhelming simplicity.
Pablo Espinosa, LA JORNADA
GEO expresses the dramatic and hedonistic duality of Mexican idiosyncrasy. An exquisite and captivating singer.
Fernando Íñiguez, EL PAIS
GEO lives in the house of splendor. The wind is her voice.
Particles strewn...
Her red, red heart of wine sings
slicing my soul in two
with the hot dagger of her feeling
I walk through a forest of treetops of blue,
collecting a charm at the altar of her song,
and go in search of my lost love
I am alone
She sings...
If death is cloaked in her sound
It will come easy
My pain will subside
Her sound
Is a splendid hall
Where I shall bask
In this feeling
Neiffe Peña
Sound beautiful...so many influences: mexican, brazilian, jazz. Thank you for letting me hear that. All the best to you Geo.
Marcus Miller
In this increasingly weak musical scene, as in all walks of life, there are superb exceptions: GEO Meneses is one of them. Possessing an unparalleled voice, this singer has found her niche, thanks to her vast and undeniable talent for song, in a spot among the timeless classics of contemporary music.
Heiress to legitimate Mexican music (and here I would suspect that her birthplace of Oaxaca plays a major role), Georgina Meneses never had to knock on the doors of the musical emporiums of flagrant commercialization to attain triumph in the field of music. Perhaps, even unwittingly, her voice is a fusion ––thanks to that powerful and unique range she attains– of the dark rich tones of a Cesaria Evora and the complexity of a Toni Childs, though at the same time we come across the tender depths of an Edith Piaf and the fiery independence of a Lucha Reyes.
These extreme expressions dwell in Geo’s persona with such naturalness that her voice becomes a palette of colors, exceedingly difficult to come across in a performer of popular roots. For this reason it is an entire rite to hear her perform live: the array of shades and tones achieved weave an amazing and endless fabric of complex yet fresh expression that beckon us, inviting us to be receptive. This amazing and naked sensitivity brings tears to our eyes.
It suffices to hear Geo Meneses sing just once to know that this is no fleeting star.
Víctor Roura
Music
Links to Geo Meneses
