Vanesa Harbek - Konzert Bericht Saal Löwer

Memories of Carlos Santana

Vanesa Harbek gave free rein to her South American temperament in Haßloch on Saturday. In the Löwer ballroom, the queen of Latin blues played mainly songs from her homeland of Argentina.

By Hans Kraus How Vanesa Harbek got her nickname "Lady Slowhand" was not clear on Saturday, because the singer and guitarist only very rarely resembled the "real" Slowhand, Eric Clapton, in terms of style. Instead, her playing was always reminiscent of Carlos Santana, who, just like Harbek, who was born and raised in Argentina, comes from Latin America and has absorbed the rhythms there practically with his mother's milk. Since "Lady Carlos" would certainly not suit the musician, who now lives in Berlin, as a nickname, she brought along another Carlos to compensate, namely drummer Carlos Dalelane from Mozambique. He proved himself to be an exceptional drummer, constantly ensuring the right groove and working so hard behind the drums that he was completely sweaty after just three songs, but was also already enjoying a lot of applause. Dalelane proved himself to be a world-class drummer, although, believe it or not, he performs as a singer and bassist in his own band and prefers to leave the percussion work to others. The bass part was played by Manuel de Villiers, who also plays two roles and usually also appears as a singer and guitarist. And what is there to say about Vanesa Harbek? Not much that hasn't already been said. She has been playing electric guitar since she was 15, is a passionate blues rock lover and moved from Buenos Aires to Berlin years ago. Here she released her first album after moving, entitled "Visiones", in 2022 and has recorded three more since then. Harbek sings with a voluminous voice in English and Spanish and puts together her set list from her own material and rearranged cover songs, although the pattern is always the same. The structure of the song is initially maintained, then she spices it up with an expansive guitar solo, before finally returning to the original melody. The audience thus gets the feeling that they have already heard what they have just heard, in this way and not otherwise. Harbek makes classics such as "Pride And Joy" by Stevie Ray Vaughn and "If You Love Me Like You Say" by Albert Collins her own, giving them her own personal touch. This is where the aforementioned Eric Clapton comes into play. With "I'm Tore Down", written by Freddie King but made famous by Clapton, Harbek pays the inevitable reference to him. But it gets most interesting when the 45-year-old turns to the songs of her homeland. It is logical that the songs that Santana has put on the charts, such as "Oye Como Va", "Guajira" and "Black Magic Woman", receive the most applause from the audience. But also her own songs such as "Trying", in which Harbek describes her emigration to Germany. Or "Hell in Paradise", which tells the story of how the musician, who is also a talented painter, lived with her ex-boyfriend on a beautiful island, but he soon turned out to be a devil incarnate. In "Te Extraño Buenos Aires" she talks about her love for Berlin, where she feels very comfortable, but also that she still carries Buenos Aires in her heart and misses it. Harbek's greatest talent, besides her great work on her instrument, is to merge tango, blues and bossa rhythms into one unit, the style boundaries flowing into one another and in places even making them disappear completely. In this way, she somehow manages to turn "Vuelvo al sur", an almost pompous ballad by Astor Piazzolla, into a passionate blues-rock number. To add another element to her versatility, Vanesa Harbek and her two companions had saved the "Creedence Clearwater Revival" classic "Proud Mary" for the encore, which they presented in a rousing "rhythm'n'blues" version based on the "Ike & Tina Turner" interpretation.

#vanesaharbek #carlossantana #thequeenoflatinblues #vanesaharbektour #ericclapton #astorpiazzolla #stevierayvaughan #blueslatino #latinblues #lareinadelblueslatino