Rosalía, a bewitching butterfly that flies over the modern world

On his return to the country after passing through Lollapalooza Argentina 2019one of the great world sensations of the current music scene, was not content with captivating the audience with charisma or showing off his inexhaustible talent, but also provided an artistic allegation for those who like to venture beyond the obvious.

With a stage stripped of instruments and amplifiers, with the sole presence of eight dancers -all men- who played a central role; and without falling into the artifice of lighting arsenals or pyrotechnics, Rosalía bet on the interaction between bodies to express herself visually, perhaps as a reflection of the visceral nature of her music.

The permanent paradoxes -or tensions- between the natural and the artificial, the subtle and the obvious, tenderness and the warrior spirit, tradition and modernity, among other ambivalences that the Spanish artist brings into play from the sound, were presented under that clothing.

In this context, Rosalía unfolded in almost two hours of concert the entire world of sound contained in “motomi”, his celebrated last work; as well as the different singles released in recent years and the already classics from his album “El mal Querer”, from 2018.

However, the most wonderful thing about the show is that the Spanish woman traces a powerful lyrical and musical story, rich in information, but almost sideways, so that the enjoyment of the body does not lose prominence or distract those who only seek that in art. of Rosalia.

Of course, the irresistible magnetism and the enormous talent that the artist shows finally ends up being the final photo of the concert when the lights of the stadium were turned on to invite the public to leave.

The great expectation to see this artist, exacerbated by the shock she had caused in the Lollapalooza Argentina 2019 that left everyone wanting more and unanimously praised “motomi”exploded when at 9:30 p.m. the lights of the stadium went out and it began to sound from the speakers “Matsuri Shake”, a Japanese song with a hardcore air, which served as an announcement for the start of the show.

In the middle of a motorcycle sound, Rosalía and the dancers entered the stage dressed in black suits, with light helmets and movements as if they were robotic insects. The great ovation came when the artist took off her helmet and attacked with “Saoko”.

From then on, the next two hours were an ups and downs of emotions, with passages that went from the most radical urban rhythms to “cortavenas” boleros, with scales in the most pop-style ballads and, fundamentally, the Spanish sound traditions. . Thus, the atmosphere could change from romanticism to an empowering manifesto or it could turn the stage into a kind of Andalusian stage.

What is new is that in most cases all of this can erupt at the same time and that is where the game of tensions occurs: the cantejondo unfolds over a reggaeton or an ultra-delicate romantic melody presents a sexually hardcore lyric, as it happens in the subject “Hentai”.

Perhaps the weakest point of the show was that at times the sound of the tracks was not entirely clear, which did not allow the subtleties that appear in the bases of the songs to be fully appreciated.

Be that as it may, this did not prevent in any case from venturing into that proposed universe, where the concept of the urgency of modern life is manifested through snippets of rhythms that are shown but do not fully develop and end abruptly to give way to another fragment.

While all this is happening, Rosalía exerts her power of seduction to the maximum, either with her empowered pose; her simplicity and humility when speaking with the public, moments in which she does not hesitate to bare emotions; or with the closeness that she proposes by getting off the stage to sing next to the fans or allowing a group of them to come up to dance to one of the songs.

There were also nods to the local culture when he sang a cappella “Alfonsina and the sea” and revealed that she had learned it “many years ago, when I was very young”; or when after mentioning the salsa singer Willie Colón in the playful “abcdefg”He added that he also liked Piazzolla a lot and that he hoped to someday make a song inspired by him.

For its deployment, the Spanish had the body of dancers as a great ally, not only to assemble figures -such as the human motorcycle that she represented on which Rosalía sat to sing “motomi”-; but also as an assistant who avoided other stage presences.

Once again there, the performative intersected with the practical, since the dancers were curiously in charge of passing a hair dryer across the floor to avoid slipping, or they brought the artist water and a towel, in movements almost incorporated into the dynamics of the show.

Even the disruptive walking on stage of a steadycam that moved freely in front of the artist and the corps de ballet to take close-ups that were broadcast by the side screens seemed to be part of the concept of the staging.

When at the end of the concert, Rosalía closed with “CUUUUUUUUUUTE”the metaphor of the modern world was completed: a cut of just over two minutes in which the almost industrial sound abruptly passes to the sweet melody, and combines traditional poetics with the particular language built on neologisms.

“Loose butterflies on the street. To see them you have to go out. Look at them, don’t lose detail. There will be someone who fails you, but I’m always there,” Rosalía intoned by way of conclusion. The robotic insects of the beginning had mutated into butterflies and would remain attached to the memory of the public, as it dispersed through the streets of Villa Crespo.

The Spanish artist will culminate her series of shows in Buenos Aires tonight to follow the South American section of the “Motomi World Tour” for Chile.