WOMEX took place in Thessaloniki this year, at the Helexpo, a group of buildings rather like a college campus, in which performances and the trade fair were set up. Although the trade fair is essentially the place where folks talk the talk and get their business done, it is also a place where people gather for booth parties and to check out spontaneous performances.
So in between drinking the pisco sours at the Peruvian booth (they had brought along their very own mixologist!), I wandered about with my camcorder, and happened upon a lovely surprise: Celina Da Piedade was singing and playing accordion, and it was so good I had to videotape it. Unfortunately, when I reviewed the footage, the crowd and hall noise was so loud it was almost impossible to hear her voice. I tried to eliminate some of it in ProTools, but it was impossible without garbling the vocal.
Then weeks later, I saw her again in Catalonia, Spain, attending the Fira Mediterrània de Manresa. I got the idea to videotape the song again, and crossfade it into my original take, and Ms. Da Piedade agreed to give it a try. I found a quiet room and shot two takes which much to my astonishment needed hardly any re-synching into my original track!
I hope you will find the song as lovely as I do, and graceful in its simplicity.
The lyric likens a young man's amorous attentions to a green pear. The young woman who is the object of flirtation tells the young man that he is like an unripe fruit, knowing nothing of real love.
To find out more about Ms. Da Piedade, visit her website.