Mexican hero, lesbian icon, one of the world's great voices (and, famously, Frida Kahlo's lover), Chavela Vargas is a legend, and a new CD, "Chavela at Carnegie Hall," documents her triumphant 2003 debut at the venerable concert hall at the ripe old age of 83. At this concert, with just spare acoustic accompaniment and interrupted sporadically by outbursts of spontaneous applause from the overexcited audience, she sings with a croaky theatricality and pathos that is both over-the-top and electrifying, particularly on this song where she leaps from a ghostly whisper to a wail.
-- T.B.
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