RESPONSE TO BÉBÉ LA LA'S "A CURIOUS SERIES OF UNEXPECTED EVENTS"

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I “met” Bébé La La on author Mary Dezember’s Creatives in Conversation in April of 2022, and it was an introduction I’ll cherish indefinitely. Mary provides all that you would want to know about Bébé La La, including her very unique review, here. Me? I just want to share my experience of Bébé La La with you.

Alicia Ultan and Maryse Lapierre are Bébé La La, a multi-talented, multi-instrumental, musical duo based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They celebrated their second and most recent CD release, A Curious Series of Unexpected Events, in November of 2021, and it certainly is worthy of celebration!

A Curious Series of Unexpected Events opens

and closes with In Media Res and its Reprise, respectively, featuring Alicia’s weeping, swelling viola sound, Maryse’s haunting harmonium and the voices of Bébé La La plucking at heart strings- those voices that ride the waves of life, lifting you high into fantasy skies and crashing you down to reality.

They don’t hesitate to let you know right off the bat that they are not merely magical musicians but conscious beings as well. The second track, Step Back, tells you that these artists are “Gonna take a step back” to “figure it out” and “turn the world inside out.” 

It is a call to pay attention to what we’re doing to the planet, to make smarter choices. Musically, after delivering the meat of the message, midway through the track, there’s a pregnant pause (for thought?) with Claudio Tolousse’s sitar as backdrop for planet sounds. Then the tempo picks up again after the pause, but the message remains the same. 

 The harmonic resonance Maryse and Alicia share is on vivid display in Rosie, a languid but uplifting folk ballad which was inspired by a real live meeting with a young girl on a mountain hike. The strings of Micky Patten’s bass and guitar, and Jacqueline Ultan’s cello provide enriching depth, nuance, and contours to this track. I’m obviously not the only one who cradles this cut close to the bosom, because Alicia took home a 2022 New Mexico Music Award in the Singer-Songwriter category for writing it!

Ah, and then the tempo gets a charge on the group’s namesake track Bébé La La. It opens with Carlos “Kalin” Noboa’s zampoñas  (pan pipes in English and calling to mind native wooden flutes), and Joseph Altamirano’s charango, a traditional South American 10-stringer about the size of a ukulele. Talk about diversity! We’ve got instruments from various parts of the world with French lyrics delivering a message that I cannot decipher…at least cognitively. But Bébé La La reminds us that the meaning in music is so often a feeling thing more than a thinking thing. Is this a celebration of life, a cry of longing? Feels like both and more. Maryse takes the vocal lead on this one, showing her range, while Alicia offers the perfect harmonic complement.

The CD then takes me home. One Minute at a Time opens its wings with steel-pan sounds from Frank Leto and speaks with a reggae, island lilt that takes you to the tropics lyrically and musically. It’s a statement about our times including references to Covid: “Wearing masks and gloves and fear” Yeah! Clearly Alicia is also a poet. Pick up the Lyric Book with lyrics to all the songs from both their CDs (High Wire being the other) and you'll see what I mean. This track is a nod to nostalgia, a call for a different future, while painting an idyllic picture to match the island sounds.

Rumpelstiltskin’s Secret revives the up tempo, reminding me of flower children dancing in the park, trials and tribulations trampled beneath their prancing feet. Alicia’s acoustic chops may be most evident on this track and the ever-present harmony between these symbiotic artists continues to be the thread that ties this enriching sound experience together.

Is there an album worth its salt that doesn’t deliver a love song? I’m not sure that the musicians would call Magic Hour a love song, but if it sounds like a love song, feels like a love song, doggone it, it must be a love song! And what a beautiful love song it is. Alicia’s voice-magic takes me back to adolescent years when Carly Simon sent me dreaming. And when these two artists put their voices together love is definitely in the air. “If I come to you in a magic hour would you cast a spell on me?” Well, turn about is fair play and since Bébé La La cast a spell on me from the opening cut, I think it’s only fair that I answer, “Hell yes!” to that question. If only I had warlock powers...

Slow down & listen with Alicia on viola demands that you close your eyes and open your ears to the viola hovering above the signature harmony. It commands you to listen to the lyrics prescribing good medicine for living in today's world:  

“Slow down and listen, you’re going to crash if you keep going so fast

Slow down and listen, you’re going to hit a brick wall from your past”

In another song for our times, Remember stems from the George Floyd incident. Can a tragic dirge be beautiful? Well, when Bébé La La sings and plays one, it can. It is. Heavy and beautiful, beautiful and heavy, the poignant lyrics include, “This systemic pandemic of hatred will end” and tells the departed Floyd that “Change will come, we’ll have you to thank.” The way Jacqueline Ultan’s cello laments and complements the lyrics makes this one of my favorite tracks. The lyrics are musical; the music is poetic, and Arnaldo Acosta’s snare work is a brilliant touch on this cut.

From where I sit, A Curious Series of Unexpected Events is an album for our times, of times past, and it seeks to will us into a more magical future.  

Bébé La La’s website: https://bebelalamusic.com/home

Bébé La La on Facebook/Meta: https://www.facebook.com/bebelalaband/

Bébé La La music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nur2Ax2h9Zc&t=45s

Bébé La La YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aliciamusic6477/videos

Terrific live concert at the Community Coffee House in Albuquerque, NM where the duo is based