Amy Tan and Pascal Toussaint in coversation with Michael Krasny
Click play button to listen
- Artist: KQED Public Radio
- Length: 28:01 minutes (8 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps (CBR)
Description:
On KQED public radio, Amy Tan introduces us to French singer Pascal Toussaint, a cabaret performer she discovered while in Paris in the summer of 2009. Toussaint will make his U.S. debut at a solo show in San Francisco at Yoshi's jazz club on February 28th.
- 47 plays
If you can't change your fate, change your attitude.”
—Amy Tan, The Kitchen God's Wife
About Amy
As a child Amy Tan believed her life was duller than most. She read to escape. Her parents wanted her to be a doctor and a concert pianist. She secretly dreamed of becoming an artist. She began writing fiction when she was 33. Her first short story was...
Connections
Causes Amy Tan Supports
Self Help for the Elderly
Pets Unlimited
Squaw Valley Community of Writers
San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Opera
One may well say: WOW!
Can hardly believe the quality and power of Pascal Toussaint's voice. I thought Jimmy Scott created a haunting vocal presence for the exceptional quality and skillful application of an eerily otherworldly voice--and without question he does--but what I've heard here seems/sounds like a beautiful singing myth.
Aside from the informative and fully appropriate dialogue on the nuances of Toussaint's music, and the fantastic on-the-air performances, it was good to hear the singer comment near the beginning on the racial climate in France. The reality of racial conflict and discrimination, as opposed to merely political or philosophical disagreements that just happen to involve race, is something the beloved country is currently seeking ways to address in a meaningful manner, most notably at present through the Council of Black Associations (CRAN) headed by Patrick Lozès.
Much gratitude to Amy Tan for re-introducing the West Coast to such an amazing musical talent. And to Red Room for getting my attention by featuring this post.
Aberjhani
author of The American Poet Who Went Home Again
and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File)