Soka Performing Arts Center Presents An Evening Of Chanteuses with Perla Batalla “In The House Of Cohen,” and Grammy Award-Nominated Maria Muldaur with Red Hot Bluesiana Band
(Aliso Viejo, CA, December 10, 2019) – Soka Performing Arts Center presents two remarkable and Grammy Award-nominated chanteuses for one night of stellar singing on Saturday, February 29, 2020 at 8pm. Perla Batalla sings her program “In the House of Cohen” to celebrate the legendary songwriter Leonard Cohen and his work. Rounding out the evening is the incomparable Maria Muldaur. Backed by her Red Hot Bluesiana Band, Muldaur will showcase the worldwide release of her newest CD “Don’t You Feel My Leg – The Naughty Bawdy Blues of Blue Barker.” Muldaur and the Band will also feature many of her chart-topping hits including, “Midnight at the Oasis.”
Tickets are on sale now and start at $25-$50. They are available for purchase online at performingarts.soka.edu, at the Box Office at 1 University Drive in Aliso Viejo or by calling 949. 490.4278.
About Perala Batalla
Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter Perla Batalla consistently earns critical acclaim for her unique voice and culture-merging compositions. Formerly a Leonard Cohen back-up singer, the Los Angeles born vocalist launched her solo career with Cohen’s encouragement. Since then she’s recorded seven albums, been featured in films and television, and taken her unique sound on tour in some of the most prestigious venues around the world. The Los Angeles Times writes, “Batalla is comfortable in both English and Spanish, proud of her mestiza heritage, musically adventurous and always accompanied by impeccable performers…. above all, she is a born storyteller with a rambunctious sense of humor.”
Batalla was born in Los Angeles, California, to a family immersed in music; her father, a Mexican singer and radio personality, and an Argentine mother who ran a bustling record store called Discoteca Batalla. At the family record shop, literally at her mother’s knee, Batalla was exposed to an education of non-stop music that cut across genre and language. While her far-ranging influences are reflected in the eclectic choices of songs she writes, arranges and performs today, it is that voice that brings each song to a new light.
Batalla’s mission of honoring her roots and exposing young audiences to the beauty of music and the Spanish language is ongoing with her outreach endeavors throughout some of the poorest communities in the United States. She is the recipient of the United Nation’s Earth Charter Award for “extraordinary devotion to social and economic justice” and the Premio Fronterizo Award for “healing work in the world.”
About “In the House of Cohen”
In 2015, Grammy Award-nominated singer Perla Batalla began pondering songs to include in a follow up CD to her 2007 tribute release to friend and mentor Leonard Cohen. As a longtime singer and touring band member with the legendary songwriter, Perla knew there was much of Cohen’s body of work she still wanted to perform and record. Batalla’s first Cohen CD, Bird on the Wire was produced with Leonard’s blessing; he attended the recording session, weighed-in on material, arrangements, and uncharacteristically participated in a photo session at his Los Angeles home to promote the project.
Cohen’s passing in November 2016 reaffirmed Batalla’s mission of sharing the lesser-known songs of Canada’s poet laureate to a younger public mostly familiar with the well-covered, “Hallelujah.” She also wanted to dispel the too common mischaracterization of Cohen as “The Godfather of Gloom.” The man she knew was, more often than not, motivated by sly humor and absurdity. Perla Batalla in the House of Cohen features selected songs and rare personal anecdotes that serve to reveal Cohen’s lighter side (like Mr. Cohen’s deep affection for the .99 Cent Store and his delight at dining on hot dogs at Home Depot).
The evening reveals the timelessness of Cohen’s art through Batalla’s signature cross-cultural style, to convey her sincere respect and deep love for the music, the poetry, and most of all for her dear friend, Leonard Cohen. “In this show, there are times when I ask my audience to sing with me,” Batalla says. “I feel that the coming together of voices has the power to touch Leonard’s spirit and his lifelong devotion to art and the mysteries of the human heart. Live music is about being in the moment, and I always have this secret expectation that as we lift our voices up together we will feel Leonard all around us…and we usually do.”
About Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur is best known worldwide for her 1974 mega-hit “Midnight at the Oasis,” which received several Grammy Award nominations and enshrined her forever in the hearts of Baby Boomers everywhere. Despite her considerable pop music success, Muldaur’s enduring career is best described as a long adventurous odyssey through the various forms of American roots music. During the folk revival of the early 1960s, she started exploring and singing early blues, bluegrass, Appalachian music, and began recording in 1963 with the Even Dozen Jug Band and, shortly thereafter, joining the popular Jim Kweskin Jug Band, touring and recording with them throughout the 1960s.
Most recently, Muldaur was nominated as Best Female Blues Artist for the 2019 Blues Blast Music Awards. Muldaur’s long tour throughout the United States includes stops in most major cities, notably The Lincoln Center Midsummer’s Nights Swing Series in NYC, and the Annual Americana Music Honors & Awards Program at the Grand Ol’ Opry’s Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
Muldaur’s most recent release, her 41st album, “Don’t You Feel My Leg – The Naughty Bawdy Blues of Blue Barker” was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Traditional Blues category. Muldaur’s previous release gives a nod to one of music’s best kept secrets. Many have heard of Blues Great Bessie Smith, but very few have heard of Memphis Minnie. Memphis Minnie wrote over 200 songs, most of which were done by herself and her guitar playing husband. Muldaur has spent most of her career shining light on names that are lesser known, but who shaped contemporary music. “Minnie deserves our attention and gratitude” states Muldaur. “I have virtually everything she recorded. So much of her repertoire was early country blues, and I knew she’d migrated from the Memphis area to Chicago where she reigned as queen of the scene for many years. She was one of the first to plug in the guitar and go electric with “Chauffeur Blues.” Muldaur continues, “When I was 21, (Houston Blues singer) Victoria Spivey took me under her wing. She took a liking to me and invited me to be part of the Even Dozen Jug Band project. She took me to her apartment to look for songs that would be suitable to my voice and she played me a scratchy old 78 of Memphis Minnie singing ‘Tricks Ain’t Walking’ and that was it! I became a lifelong fan and devotee.”
About Soka Performing Arts Center
Now is in its ninth season of presenting the best of live performances on its extraordinary stage, Soka Performing Arts Center, located on the campus of Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo, California, is under the new leadership of General Manager Renee Bodie. The 1,000-seat concert hall features world-class acoustics designed by Yasuhisa Toyota, acoustic designer of noted performance venues like Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
Designed to truly reflect the university’s commitment to sustainability, the concert hall and adjacent Maathai Hall (featuring a black box theatre and dance studio) have been built to Gold LEED standards and feature vegetated green roofs. Photo voltaic cells on the Soka Performing Arts Center roof generate approximately 15% of the facility’s electrical needs.
Soka University of America is a private, non-profit, four-year liberal arts college and graduate program. The university is open to top students of all nationalities and beliefs and was founded upon the Buddhist principles of peace, human rights, and the sanctity of life. For more information, please visit soka.edu.
Perla Batalla “In the House of Cohen” and Maria Muldaur
Saturday, February 29, 2020 at 8pm
Event URL: http://bit.ly/2YmUkUD
Regular Tickets: $25/$32/$40/$50
Discount Tickets: Senior, Student and Active Military: $22.50/$28.80/$36.00/$45.00
In Person: 1 University Drive, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
Online: performingarts.soka.edu
Phone: 949.480.4ART (4278)
All information is accurate at the time of printing but is subject to change.
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