Venezuelan singer/song writer, Mariana Vega was recently awarded the Latin Grammy for Best New Artist and she celebrated her triumph with her first ever live performance in Los Angeles.
Los Globos Night Club in Silver Lake hosted this intimate, soulful and passionate performance that left the audience asking for more.
Before her performance, we had the chance to chat with Mariana Vega about her experience at the Latin Grammys and how that has changed her musical career.
A few months ago, we spoke to Mariana about her Latin Grammy nominations for “Best New Artist” and “Contemporary Pop Vocal Album” for her album Mi Burbuja, and at that time Mariana told us how her world had been turned upside down with the news of her nomination, so after having been awarded the Latin Grammy for Best New Artist, I asked her how her it has affected her life and career, to which she replied: “My world has now been turned the other way again (laughs), but I am taking it in stride, I cannot let it get to my head and I just have to let things flow. Just the nominations had begun to open new doors and opportunities, but now having actually won a Grammy, the opportunities have multiplied and we are very humbly going to take this opportunity to take this music to new places, like the United States and the rest of South America.”
Speaking of the United States, I asked Mariana how she felt about playing her first performance in the United States in Los Angeles, the Mecca of music, and she responded: “I am super excited because Los Angeles is such an iconic city for music. Music emerges from every pore of the city, there’s such a musical vibe in this city, everywhere you look there’s all kinds of music, there’s rock & roll, you there’s all types of Latin music and all other genres, so there could not be a better beginning to my musical journey in the U.S.”
Going back to her Grammy nominations, I mentioned to Mariana that I found it a little strange that she was awarded the Grammy for “Best New Artist” when her album Mi Burbuja is actually her second album and Mariana stated: “Sometimes artists are at fault for not being recognized by the academy right away, in my case, during my first album, (the self titled Mariana Vega) and EP’s, I concentrated my career in Mexico and Venezuela and didn’t really venture out to other markets, but from the very beginning we had in mind to spread our wings and venture out to new territories with Mi Burbuja, and here we are in L.A. and after this we are heading down to South America.”
As Mariana Vega took the stage, a musically educated and attentive audience was taken through a musical journey filled with soul and passion. Do not let the tag of “Contemporary Pop Vocal Album” fool you, as Mariana’s music is far from “pop”. Yes, her music that have some hints of pop music, but it is done in a very sophisticated way and it is more folk, melodic and with a lot of feeling. During the performance, Mariana’s backing band, which was more of the basic rock & roll band, with drums, bass, electric guitar, keyboards and Mariana’s acoustic guitar gave the music more of a rock & roll edge and on the more acoustic cuts, her passionate voice and delivery made those songs feel even stronger.
Mariana Vega definitely left a good first impression in the minds of Angelinos as it was evidenced by the fans lining up after the show to have their cd’s autographed and have their “selfies” taken with Mariana, to which Mariana very happily and humbly obliged.
*Photos by Angel Aguilar
