By Fredric Dannen
She was born in Nigeria as Helen Folasade Abu, brought up in England as a British citizen, and came to be known professionally as Sade Abu, or just simply Sade. Her 1984 album Diamond Life was a multiplatinum hit, the best-selling debut album of all time by a British female vocalist. Her song “Smooth Operator” is one of those iconic singles from the Eighties, instantly evoking the decade, yet remaining fresh. Some of her other songs, “The Sweetest Taboo,” “Is It A Crime,” and “Tar Baby,” were so popular that Top 40 radio played the tracks even though they were never actually released as singles. Sade (pronounced shah DAY) has had a considerable influence on other singers, and yet her vocal style is difficult to classify. The husky quality of her contralto voice has evoked comparisons to Billie Holiday.
Another singer, well known in San Miguel, is Alzenira Quezada, who goes by the stage name of Lady Zen. Like Sade, she grew up in an English-speaking country not of her birth. Not yet two years old, Quezada was plucked from a Brazilian orphanage by Christian missionary parents, and raised in Fayetteville, Arkansas. By the time she was learning to speak, she was the star vocal attraction at the Church of the Nazarene, singing at tent revivals, church concerts, and county fairs all over the South, winning over 60 vocal competitions in the process. By age 17, she was studying opera on a Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Arkansas. That year, she discovered Billie Holiday, and her operatic ambitions were set aside.
Because Lady Zen is a jazz, blues, and pop singer with the vocal power and range of an operatic mezzo soprano, her voice is also difficult to categorize, but the sheer force of her performances, and her unerring stage presence, have made her the top-selling vocalist in San Miguel, where she lives when she is not touring.
The conductor John Mauceri, who for 16 years led the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and has worked with some of the greatest female vocalists in the world, including Renée Fleming and Audra McDonald, recently heard Lady Zen perform in a video I sent him, and wrote back immediately to tell me he was “deeply moved,” and added: “What a singer!”
Lady Zen Sings Sade will run for four performances over two days–Valentine’s Day, Tuesday, February 14, and Wednesday, February 15–at the San Miguel Playhouse. On each day there will be a 3pm matinee and a 7pm evening show. Tickets are 750 pesos for the center section and 600 pesos for the sides. Advance tickets can be purchased online at boletocity.com, or at the door one hour before each performance. The San Miguel Playhouse, at Avenida Independencia 82, has secure street parking and a taxi concierge service.
Zen will perform with her all-star Royal Court Band: Armando Cuevas on guitar; Daniel Chavez Kuri on bass; Isaac Villagomez on drums; and Javier Cuevas on keyboard.
Music
Lady Zen Sings Sade, featuring The Royal Court Band
Tue., Feb. 14, 3pm and 7pm; Wed., Feb. 15, 3pm and 7pm
San Miguel Playhouse
Av. Independencia 82
600 and 750 pesos
At boletocity.com or at the door
