American jazz singer Melody Gardot turned old Heliopolis’ grand Bacchus Temple into an intimate venue for her Baalbeck International Festival performance Sunday night.
Gardot arrived in Baalbeck to promote her first live album, set to come out in February. She performed alternately arranged versions of her greatest hits, released between 2012 and 2016.
Gardot first performed in Lebanon in 2017 as a guest artist in Ibrahim Maalouf’s Batroun International Festival gig. Charmed by the country, she decided to return for a show of her own.
“My first visit was just incredible,” Gardot told The Daily Star. “Everybody at the festival was just so lovely and warm and seeing how Ibrahim Maalouf just brought everyone together, I wished to do the same and come back another time.
“It’s a pleasure to be here and I feel like I’m among friends. The setting is incredible. There is nothing like it in the world, so to be able to travel this far and find such a paradise as a setting for music is unreal.”
Though the show started an hour late, Gardot’s fans were instantly forgiving when she joined her small ensemble on stage for a cover of “Wayfaring Stranger,” fused with Gardot’s own “The Rain.”
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Soft and soulful, Gardot’s music was performed by a string section she picked up from the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, a drummer and a guitarist. Her own sultry mezzo wowed viewers as she gave herself over to the concert.
Gardot’s renditions of her tunes dispensed with the recorded arrangements of each song, leaving long instrumental sections with ample room for improvisation, so that some of her tunes went on for several minutes. The lyrics were often rendered as scat or prettily hummed melodies, adding a more experimental and informal touch to the show.
The vocalist grew up in a musical family. Aged 19, she was hit by a car and suffered head and spinal injuries. She was confined to her bed for a year, sensitive to light and sound and suffering memory loss. Doctors suggested music therapy to help her relearn basic skills.
“It was a way to find something enjoyable to do during the day,” Gardot said. “I was handicapped at the time so I couldn’t sit, and playing the piano wasn’t possible so my mother gave me her guitar.
“Little by little I taught myself about tone, about what chords would go together, where to put my fingers. I would hum the sounds, which eventually led to words and then to songs,” she added. “Jazz was helpful for me because I had memory issues, so whenever I couldn’t remember the lyrics to a song I could just scat - it was like a clean slate.”
By now Gardot has mostly recovered from the accident, but the technique remains a part of her practice, as witnessed in her versions of “So Long,” “Goodbye” and “Our Love is Easy.”
When the call to prayer interrupted the concert, Gardot added her voice to the call - a gesture some considered charming, and others a bit insensitive.
While the show’s first half sounded lovely, if similar, “Morning Sun” swept into a rocky crescendo with more electric tones. The gypsy jazz-style “Les Etoiles” had the audience clapping along, cheering violinist Astghik Vardanyan on for her impressive improvised sections.
Gardot rounded off the evening with a tribute cover to Charles Aznavour with “Hier Encore” and her “Who Will Comfort Me,” with some call-and-response fun.
Judging by the loud demand for an encore, few fans left disappointed by Gardot’s gig.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
