The Porta Ferrada festival opens its doors for another year, and it does so with the elegant and festive soundtrack of Pink Martini, the small orchestra that from Portland (Oregon) has been conquering the world for more than two decades with hits where the overtones Latinos mingle with melodic music on a sound journey along the sunny shores of the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Born under the aegis of Thomas Lauderdale in the 1990s, the formation with successful composers such as Amado Mio, Una Notte a Napoli or Sympathique, has the honor of being one of the few popular music orchestras that continues to tour the world at a time when even four-piece bands seem to withdraw in favor of electronic music. Tickets for the concert on Friday, July 7 can be purchased through the Entradas de Vanguardia portal with a 15% discount for members.
"We have a very loyal audience that feels that we are taking them on a trip around the world with all the languages in which we sing, up to 25 different ones," explains China Forbes, vocalist of the orchestra, from Athens, where this past Monday they began their new tour that will take them through Europe and the United States. Precisely the visits to other countries during his tours are one of the inspirations to compose songs in other languages, "it is natural that we learn a song in the language of the country we visit," he explains, "and there are still many more to do than not even we've tried, but it's a lot of fun being able to connect directly with the audience and obviously it only happens when you're singing in their language.”
Forbes joined the band in 1995 at the hands of Thomas Lauderdale, whom he met at Harvard University while studying drama. It was the end of her career as an actress, but also the beginning of a musical journey that made her, as well as the voice of the orchestra, a successful composer from the very beginning, when in 1997 they published Sympathique, a catchy French hymn written in the Californian coast that strikers sing so much in their protests (“je ne veux pas trevailler”) and that Citroen uses to sell its cars. Along with Lauderdale, China Forbes has signed many of the band's hits such as Lilly, Clementine or Let's Never Stop Falling in Love. “We have never written specifically for orchestra”, China comments, “although she admits that she is interested in her:“ I just orchestrated some songs for a concert, I did all the parts for the whole orchestra and it was a lot of fun ”.
Pink Martini's latest album, Non Ouais! The French Songs of Pink Martini, dates from 2018, and for now it will not take over, "nothing comes soon in Pink Martini" says China laughing, and acknowledges that the personal projects of both her and Lauderdale keep them "distracted", although she assures that, sooner or later, there will be new work. Until then, you can listen to the two singles published in 2020, during the pandemic, Lemonade and Let's be friends. Although she is not the main reason for delaying the release of a new album, the vocalist acknowledges that the reality of the sector affects her work. “Now nobody has a CD player, nobody listens to entire albums,” she says.
Of all the languages used in her songs, China Forbes chooses French, "the language I speak best" thanks to her father, of French descent, "he loved that language and I spoke it since I was little, I feel connected to my family when I sing in French”. She also feels a special attraction for Italian, a language that she has studied and that she uses when she practices one of her great passions, opera, "that was my initial inspiration to learn Italian." Since she was little, she has wanted to sing in this discipline, although she has never intended to dedicate herself professionally, "but she did sing the arias that I love", and among them those of La Wally by Catalani, Song to the Moon by Dvorak or those of Puccini such as O mio bambino caro, or Un bel di vedremo from Madame Butterfly. "I've performed 19 different arias over the years, it's a totally different feeling, a whole body experience."
Bel canto is not part of the repertoire that the group will present at Porta Ferrada, and that China was still unaware of when speaking to La Vanguardia, as he admits that "I never know what the setlist is until before going on stage." What is clear to him is that at the Costa Brava festival he wants to sing "a song in Spanish that I don't always sing" to which will be added the songs that Edna Vazquez, a Mexican enrolled in the "small orchestra", will interpret and that are not part of the part of the regular repertoire. What is clear to him is that it will be a “hot and summery” repertoire made up of “more danceable” songs, because not wanting to work does not mean staying still, especially when the Pink Martini perform.
