On September 6, I had the pleasure to cover two very talented Latino singer-songwriters at the People’s Voice Cafe on 239 Thompson Street. This alternative coffeehouse offers quality entertainment and a place for emerging singer-songwriters to perform and show their wares. It has also been a space for artistic expression and a wide variety of humanitarian issues and concerns since 1979.
The cafe is run as a non-profit collective without any political affiliation. The People’s Choice Cafe is an alcohol-free space supported in part by the generosity of the Folk Music Society of New York and the Judson Memorial Church.
Introducing Two Wonderful Singer-Songwriters
The performance room had the feel of a large classroom with a makeshift stage. There were about 20 people in attendance, many of whom were songwriters, musicians, and filmmakers. Outside in the corridor, the staff was selling coffee and chocolate chip cookies. The event’s host Judy Gorman, a singer-songwriter guitarist who has been hailed by Pete Seeger, kept us entertained with humor in between the performances.
This main performances highlighted two very awesome New York City-based Latino singer-songwriters. They both performed in English and Spanish.
Mario Cancel-Bigay: The Humorous Poet and Professor
Mario Cancel-Bigay (pronounced Big Eye) is a Puerto Rican singer-songwriter, poet, translator, and ethnomusicologist who happens to be a virtuoso on the Puerto Rican 10-string cuatro, the island’s national guitar. Mario is also a professor at New York University where he teaches courses on Latin American cultures and global works.
The cuatro itself is an instrument that resembles an American 12-string guitar; with its five main strings each doubling one octave apart, giving its ten strings a characteristic “chime” when ringing out with sustain, producing a beautiful legato sound.
He performed several of his heartfelt musical compositions on his cuatro. Mario is not only a great musician, he is an excellent lyricist with a rich baritone voice. Here’s more about three of his highly memorable originals with engaging stories.
Roses for Me is a beautiful lullaby characterized by open altered chords, with an augmented turn around. Lyrically, this is a gorgeous song about an unrequited longing for love with a mood of introspection by the protagonist.
The next song Gabriela and Grace is an upbeat happy tune about his young daughter Gabriela and her best friend Grace, and their carefree existence of fun and giggles. The lyrics are witty, full of wonderful visual imagery, and in the end Mario, as a parent, clearly states he needs a break from these girls driving him crazy!
Following this song was a humorous ditty he would often play in class to his students about an NYU card and an EBT card. Here Mario’s lyrics are both intellectual and humorous, and the music has the feel and cadence of an off Broadway play.
Ruben Gonzalez: Socio-Political Commentator with a World Vision
Ruben Gonzalez is a singer-songwriter guitarist who emigrated from his native Argentina. His music has a “hand-made” feel to it, where he often invites his audiences to participate with his performances. Due to his musical ingenuity, and as an example of a new direction in music, world-renowned composer Philip Glass invited Ruben to perform at the Tune In Festival.
With his eclectic mix of South American, classical, rock, jazz, and African influences, Ruben is a great storyteller through his compositions, with lyrical themes that often point to socio-political commentary. He has three albums to his credit, and is currently working on his fourth with a talented griot balafon player from Guinea, Famoro Dioubate.
Before starting his set, Ruben invited a talented percussion player to join him. His first song about a “very hungry caterpillar” is a metaphorical folk-song with a deeper lyrical message: how abject greed can lead to one’s demise.
Ruben’s third song was a beautiful melodious tune. He explained beforehand it is a song he wrote about his leaving behind the “old country” (Argentina) and embracing his “new country” (United States). This song was a breezy samba replete with gorgeous-sounding jazz chords played in fingerstyle on the acoustic guitar. I swear, while listening to Ruben perform this beautiful tune I could not help imagining Antonio Carlos-Jobim was playing it in the room.
I heard an eclectic mix of samba, bossa nova, folk and choro in Ruben’s originals, but I still would not place a single category of genre to describe his music.
To close out this review, both performers laid out their own personal stamps to their musical performances that rang as sincere and true to my ears as the beautiful chords emanating from their instruments.
If you are looking for voices of authenticity, check out the People’s Voice Café. They run shows weekly at 239 Thompson Street.
For upcoming shows:
https://www.peoplesvoicecafe.org
Read this article The People’s Voice Cafe: Alternative Coffee House for Emerging Singer-Songwriters where I originally wrote it in The Village View:
Kaju Roberto is an accomplished musician, singer/ songwriter, journalist, and an award-winning producer. He is the artist Rad Jet on Spotify.