New to Me

 

Flamenco singers, Sonia Delaunay, 1916

Conventional wisdom says that people past their first youth stop listening to new music, and there's some research to back that up. I have to admit my experience bears this out. I'm far more likely to revisit 50-year-old pop songs or country classics or beloved Beethoven symphonies than go hunting for anything unfamiliar. I probably can't name more than a dozen artists who've come on the scene in the past 5-10 years, and most of the ones I do know are mega-celebrities. I don't think I deserve any culture points for having a favorite track by Lizzo.

That said, I'm not completely stuck in the distant past. Delila Black, for instance, first came on my radar about 10 years ago, and I've been following her ever since. Lately she's been getting some great attention from the music press here (like this and this), and I'm like, where y'all been? Her work has evolved over the years and I love it all, but I'm particularly fond of this track. On the other hand, there's no resisting this lockdown masterpiece:

I like to think I was a little ahead of the curve on Delila Black's music, but I'm way behind the curve in discovering Estrella Morente. She's long been a big star in the flamenco world. Her father, Enrique Morente, was a famous cantaor and Estrella began performing very young, releasing her first record in 2001, when she was 21. I first became aware of her about two weeks ago. I don't know anything about flamenco, but even a naive listener can hear the beauty and passion in her singing:

And while we're on the flamenco theme, here's a lovely performance I happened to come across thanks to the Youtube algorithm:

I think I might make these new (to me) music posts a regular thing. It'll give me a nudge to get out of my comfort zone a little more often — though that is, of course, a fine place to be.