A Musical Oasis called Half Gringa

Through its production arm Chicago Artists Workshop (CAW), Eighth Blackbird has been providing local artists a platform to showcase their work by hosting live performance events.  Interrupted by the ongoing global pandemic, the ensemble adapted and resumed presenting performances in a live streaming format. Each of the streamed events featured since last Fall has highlighted the work of noteworthy spoken word artists, musicians, poets, puppeteers and singers; underscoring the quality and diversity of the city’s cultural core.

CAW’s May 13^th performance ushered in two very pleasing surprises. Adhering to universal Covid protocols, artists, hosts and the studio’s crew have observed requisite distancing recommendations and remained masked whenever necessary.  Seeing the evening’s guest artists, Isabel Olive and Sam Cantor of Half Gringa and the show’s hosts, Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall, without masks constituted a welcome leap forward.  A clear signal that society is beginning to emerge from isolation.   The absence of nose and mouth shields during the program’s casual tête á têtes between the hosts and the artists restored a lightness and spontaneity to the exchanges that seemed to overflow to the musical portion of the program.

The second surprise was the talent.  Broadening exposure to the range of artistic ability flourishing in the city is a component the Eighth Blackbird/CAW mission. Half Gringa already has a loyal following who appreciate the group’s musical skills and insightful lyricism.  Concerts like the one last week will serve to expand their appeal. 

 Like many musicians, what Olive absorbed in her formative years influences the kind of music she creates.  The Bruce Springsteen and Mana her mom loved to play while she was growing up can likely be spotted in some of the songs she now crafts.  The name Half Gringa is more a reference to her cultural rather than her musical roots. Listening to the band’s beautifully arranged melodies, there are clearly many more musical identities that creep in to give the band its appealing musical shape.  When talking about her music with Kaplan and Duvall, Olive calls it “folk, but not folk”.  A fair summation.  There’s a lot that sounds familiar acoustically but the structure flows on rhythms that have their own well-defined and unique character. A confident reflective quality permeates the work. 

Well Soon revealed a completely different side of the duo where impressive instrumentality, adventurousness and an endless sense of serenity reigned.  Olive playfully called it “the weird song”.  All weird songs should be so enticingly seductive.  Although the synergy between the two guitarists was on abundant display throughout the show, Well Soon proved how emphatically, as Mr. Cantor would later observe, “guitars rule”. 

Eighth Blackbird and CAW feature artists Molly Joyce, Matthew Burtner and Chaos Hands in its June performance line-up. 

Eighth Blackbird/Chicago Artist Workshop