Gaby Moreno
Illusion

Xecol, Guatemala.

2016.

During a burial ceremony in the rural village, a mass grave is uncovered.

A pale passport photo and a faded Polaroid with the wife are found in the pocket of a corpse.

A woman from the village recognizes herself in the photo, and the wounds painfully reopen.

Xecol, and beyond, Guatemala.

1960-1996.

The URNG (Union Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca) fights, loses, resists against the military regime of the government established after a coup orchestrated by the C.I.A., in the figure of Allen Welsh Dulles, carried out through a campaign of fake propaganda and misinformation.

Over 200,000 dead or missing during 36 years of internal conflict.

Maya genocide.

L.A., United States.

1999.

María Gabriela Moreno Bonilla, known as Gaby Moreno, born in Guatemala City, but born to shine on the world music scene, moves, just an adult, to Los Angeles, where her musical career takes off.

2017.

“Sálvese quien pueda” is the eleventh track of “Illusion,” the eighth album of the “Spanglish Folk-Soul” singer-songwriter (her own definition). The lyrics are short and very close to the history of her land. Country-blues, with an organ bed, a snare drum beat, a filling bass, and a half-moon tambourine that, like in a western, seals the goosebump-inducing vibrato of Gaby Moreno's voice. 10. With honors.

“…sálvese quien pueda / de esta tempestad…” (save yourself / from this storm), “…sálvese quien pueda que aquí no habrá piedad, / solo las tinieblas pronto habitaran, / busquen ya un refugio, / o se arrepentirán que no todo está perdido…” (save yourself for there will be no mercy / soon there will be only darkness / seek refuge now / or you will regret it, that not all is lost).

The album is not, however, a snapshot of Guatemala; there is more in this last work of Gaby Moreno, much more: it is a photo album of the musical identities of the Guatemalan composer.

There are shots of the Motown-style collaboration with R'n'B singer “Johnny P” in the making of “Love is Gone” and images of the minor jazz-blues ballad “Nobody to Love,” a flashback that takes us to the 1940s, with the freshness of the colors of a 35-year-old fully aware of her voice.

The black and white of the upright piano (Patrick Warren), shuffle on the drums (Sebastian Aymanns), and a semi-deserted saloon for the brilliant “Pale Bright Lights,” which would not surprise me to find in a modern-day western, watermark in ¾ country that shows us “Fronteras” (there is also a full English version “Borders”), scenic jazz of “Aldous,” clearly from a filter-free reflex the blues of “Down in the Reverie” where the guitar (Arthur Braitsch) emerges, and warm hues for the disenchanted ballad “Solemncholy.”

The repertoire flows quickly and pleasantly to the last blurred pose.

“Illusion.”

Blues co-written with Adam Levy (as “Love is Gone”), guitarist for Norah Jones, and duetted with mandolinist/guitarist Dávíd Garza. A track that vaguely recalls “Somethin' Stupid” by “Carson & Gaile,” but is absolutely accessible even in 2018.

I fell in love with this album and Gaby Moreno's captivating and structured voice.

I invite you to take photos and print them. The darkroom is a very clear room to spend a few minutes with yourself, your memories, and the love that is no longer there, at least for mine.

Like in that photo of Xecol.