La India / Zon del Barrio – Rockefeller Park – July 10, 2012
Both of these groups had relatively full Latino mini-orquestras backing up, so there was never any thin-ness of sound. ZDB dedicated their set to the recently passed cuatro master, Yomo Toro, and there were also musical shout-outs to Sotomayor, the supreme court justice who is a major source of pride in the Latino community. They rotated vocal chores among several different leads, and took care of business way more than adequately. Nonetheless, the contrast with La India was striking. As soon as she hit the stage, hordes of fans rushed to the front where it became standing (or dancing) room only, to the impeded visibility and consternation of the Brahmins in the reserved seats. Also in those seats, a contingent of blind people (no joke); for them it didn’t much matter. Likewise not a problem for me. India has a nonchalant (or seemingly so) mastery of gesture and her stage presence reveals a humble genuineness. The voice is an awesome thing, making me forget all about the substantial hassle and discomfort of getting down to attend. Editorial gripe: really guys, how many pictures do you need to hold up your digital camera to take? Or are you all video-capturing the gig? Like I should talk! The final touch was India working her way down the “receiving line” of three- to four-deep fans along the barricade from stage to bus. I made sure to be strategically placed to get that signature.
La India