Sunday, October 03, 2010

The excellence of her guitar playing matches the excellence of her voice, which is saying a lot.

Usually I think it's kind of too bad that the Mission Branch Library doesn't have a meeting room like many branches do. But today it means one woman's gorgeous voice filling the space and another woman mid-song from the audience dancing briefly and it's A-okay that that is happening here in book and computer land, and not off somewhere else.

I like words, writing them, reading them, but the best of words are slow, when written and read, compared to a naturally great voice that has been cherished and taken care of, that is sharing right. With one note of that voice, we are there, in the great place we dream of, now. Right now.

I was going to the library to whatever, whatever, stare, maybe read some more of the pretty mystery I started reading yesterday, maybe to read more of the library's excellent books in Einstein in hopes that one of these decades I'll understand the special theory of relativity and the general theory of relativity more than I do now.

But because it's Hispanic Heritage Month and because Mission doesn't have a meeting room for events, I walked in on one of those great voice great notes, followed, of course, by many others.

Diana Gameros has been tending her gift well, and I got to be surprised it.

I have a tendency to read the caption and then look at the picture. So it's good, in a way, for my voice appreciation, that she wasn't singing in my one and only language, but in Spanish, which helped me, probably, take in the awesome vocal quality and the emotion, without getting distracted, as I can get, by the words.

The lady in the audience who dance danced simply with basic grace, from village beauty, I think. A little kid next to me seemed to be learning at this performance about clapping. He kept looking around to see that everyone was doing it--an adult approved way to make noise. He also got into the idea of dancing to the music. He started going for that as she started a slow sad song. He didn't know it's tough to dance solo to slow sad songs--he scampered away happily. She go to sing slow and sad and really let her voice out on some long-held notes. Wow.

People have great voices, and some take care of them, and some use them generously and are just there making gorgeous when not expected. Happiness happens.

--Diana Gameros sang at the Mission Branch Library's celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month on the afternoon of October 2, 2010.


Diana Gameros performs


Every Friday and Saturday, 6 to 9:30 Roosevelt Tamale Parlor, 2817 24th St. between York and Bryant

www.dianagameros.com includes music to hear