BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Whether you wish to sit or stand, it will be hard not to move to the music of Pascuala Ilabaca, an award-winning Chilean singer known for her bright voice and soulful lyrics.
Ilabaca, who recently released her newest album, "Poética Bailable Vol. 1," will perform with her band, y Fauna, at Zoellner Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Tickets, at $25, are available at the Zoellner Arts Center website.
The influence of Ilabaca's "Poética Bailable Vol. 1," or Danceable Poetics, was her desire to create upbeat, danceable music filled with bass and drums, with an emphasis on lyrics deep and thought-provoking.
"That was a priority for me when I started to create this album," Ilabaca said. "I was trying as a songwriter to introduce these sticky and funny rhythms to introduce something more philosophical or thematic."
"If you understand these lyrics, but you're sweating and you're happy and you're dancing. You are breaking a little bit of the belief that when you dance, you are a superficial person.
"And when you are sitting in a chair inside a theater, you are an intellectual person. I wanted to touch on those stereotypes about feeling art."
Poetry and dance
The genres of "Poética" are partly inspired by the music of Colombia — specifically, bullerengue, a style of music and dance from the Caribbean region, along with timba, a style of salsa and cumbia.
"As a woman songwriter, I am always remembering memories or creating new experiences to write my music," Ilabaca said in a phone call.
"The cumbias for example, I was very inspired by last year's trip to Colombia for a collaboration with the band Cumbia Stars.
"We shot a video in the middle of a jungle on a canoe and it became a spiritual experience hearing the drums and the music. I knew I wanted to create something with that feeling."
She filmed the videos for her singles — the upbeat ¡Juegue! and love ballad, "Me Patearon" — in her hometown of Valparaíso, a historic and charming city nestled on the sea and surrounded by hills and mountains.
In 2003 — 21 years before Bethlehem joined theprestigious global list — the Chilean city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage sitefor its rich architecture, murals and bohemian culture.
Roots in Valparaíso, bohemian base
Ilabaca migrated to Valparaíso with her family from Spain when she was 6 years old.
"There's a very rich musical culture because of the indigenous music that has come from the Andes mountains to the city," she said.
"It has turned it into a very urban indigenous expression that is very different from the rural expression. There's a lot of fusion and progressive jazz.
"A lot of musicians and artists from Chile, if they want to live a free life, they come to live in Valparaíso, so there are plenty of special people — poets artists and dancers.
'It's a very cool place to live."
"As a woman songwriter, I am always remembering memories or creating new experiences to write my music.Pascuala Ilabaca, songwriter, singer
Once dubbed the "Jewel of the Pacific Ocean," it also served as a main port in South America until the mid-1900s.
"It was the city with the most songs dedicated to it, so it's very mythical and can become mythical, because of the the history of sailors and prostitutes and bohemia legends," Ilabaca said.
Since 2020, there have also been social uprisings against the Chilean government.
"After the pandemic and the student and political revolutions, it became a very destroyed city that had crossed a lot of fires, but I am hopeful that is how the cycle of life goes," Ilabaca said.
"I think we are going to rise again with all this creative energy and that we are not lost at all."
The Premios Pulsar, poets of Chile
In 2016, Ilabaca won a Pulsar Primeros award — Chilean's version of the Grammy Awards — for singer/songwriter.
It is presented by the Sociedad Chilena del Derecho de Autor, the country's society of authors and musical performers.
"It was a very important moment for my career and an honor to be recognized," she said.
"I think each year is it becoming more competitive because we have a lot of incredible musicians in Chile and that category, I feel is the hardest one because songwriters are very recognized in my country.
"We have mentors like poets Victor Jara, Violeta Parra. Poetry is a vital part of the culture in Chile."
To learn more about Pascuala Ilabaca y Fauna, visit their website.
