LOVED THIS!  Don’t pull up early on this video. Take it to the finish line.  (Un Cygene La Nuit = A Swan At Night).

Yes. Yes. Yes. I agree. She stopped me in my tracks:

Every now and then a singer comes along with such an unusual approach to her voice that the Canadian folk scene stops in its tracks to make space for something they didn’t know they were missing. Darkly theatrical and deep-voiced, Toronto-raised, Montreal- and Paris-based trilingual (English, French and Spanish) singer Alejandra Ribera is such a performer.  (Source: nowtoronto.com)

A bit of Edit Piaf. A bit of Tom Waits. A bit of Joan Armatrading:

Ribera was born to an Argentine waiter and a Scottish actress and raised in Toronto. Her wildly bizarre vocal range and eclectic writing style have led to comparisons stretching from Edith Piaf to Tom Waits to Joan Armatrading. Growing up, Alejandra studied violin, viola and classical choral music. As a teenager her habit of sneaking into cabaret bars and her obsession with greats such as Mercedes Sosa, Odetta and Jimmy Scott began to shape the distinctly unique vocal style she would later apply to her own compositions.  After abandoning York University’s Vocal Jazz program after only four days, she headed off to Europe to study energy healing. “Yeah, I dropped out of school to study with a witch doctor in the mountains of Slovakia … it seemed like a good idea at the time… ” she chuckles, “but this is where it lead me, so I think it was an important detour.” Unable to deny the call of music she returned to Canada, this time to build her career as a gifted singer/songwriter.  (Source: alejandraribera.com)

Alejandra Ribera’s new album released February 4, 2014: La boca (Canadian store).  Her previous album Navigator, Navigateher can be found here.