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Guatemalan Singer-Songwriter Gaby Moreno Headlines Adams Avenue Unplugged

 April 25, 2019 at 10:30 AM PDT

Speaker 1: 00:00 The Saturday 80 artists across 24 stages. We'll take over normal heights for the annual Adams Avenue unplugged music festival, one of this year's headliners as Latin Grammy Award winner and grammy nominee, singer Songwriter Gabby Marino. Speaker 2: 00:14 Oh Speaker 1: 00:23 yeah. Be Moreno started singing when she was a little girl growing up in Guatemala when she was 19 she left home for Los Angeles to pursue her music career, but it was a family trip that changed everything. Speaker 3: 00:35 All I remember was that I was in New York City and I heard this, this woman singing on the streets and I, I was just captivated by it or the way that she was singing that. And I remember I just stood there and for a good 20 minutes is listening to her until finally I asked her like, well, was that music that she was singing? And she told me, Oh, that's the blues honey and I cannot explain it to you. It was just something that you know, gave me goosebumps and I said, this is, this is definitely a world that I want to explore. And so I, I went to a record store and I bought a bunch of different cds. I didn't know who the relevant artists of that genre where at the time. So I just bought compilation cds and then I brought them home with me and I remember I would just lock myself in my room and play these records over and over and, and try to sing like those artists. I shortly after that I picked up the guitar and I started learning those songs and then started writing my songs from there. Speaker 3: 01:47 So this song is called the immigrants is a song that will be on my upcoming album with Van Dyke parks. Speaker 4: 01:55 So much trouble and the land of the free, Speaker 3: 02:02 and it's a song that he brought to my attention a few years ago. It was written by David Rudder from Trinidad and it was written almost 20 years ago, but it's still so relevant that we decided it was very important to keep sending that message Speaker 4: 02:30 to help America get grants and going no, Speaker 3: 02:48 every, every single day that I, that I read the news and read about what they're going through and, and how they're being treated with no dignity, no humanity. And I just, I, I wish I could, you know, magically do something to change that. Speaker 4: 03:12 No. Last data is this mister mode. He knows, he knows Speaker 3: 03:40 I feel heartbroken and I feel so helpless. I wish I could be doing more to help those people. It's just devastating. I still feel 100% Guatemalan, like I never left. I mean, I'm here in this country, of course it's an immigrant and because of, because of work, because of what I decided to do with my life, but, but homes for me, it's still Guatemala. So you know what I write from my, my experience as an immigrant, and this sounds a bit weird, but I just, I, I tried to be a voice for them. I know a lot of them feel like they're here in this country, in their head, and they have no nothing that they can do. They can say that that means anything. So I just, I want to try to like, be that, be that voice and um, give a little bit of faith Speaker 4: 04:38 is Speaker 3: 04:45 I have performance San Diego a few times before. I just love going down there. I will be performing songs from previous albums as well as some new souls that I haven't even recorded yet, but it's going to be just me and my guitar. It's going to be an acoustic set, so I'm very excited. Speaker 5: 05:06 Ooh, Ooh. Oh, Speaker 1: 05:15 that was singer songwriter, Gabby Marino speaking. Go US via Skype. She'll be headlining at the Adams Avenue unplugged music festival this Saturday in normal heights. We've got ticket and event information on our website. KPBS dot. O R g Speaker 3: 05:32 never. Speaker 4: 05:44 Hmm. Speaker 3: 05:44 It's just Makia Meta. It'll say.

On Saturday, 80 artists, across 24 stages will take over Normal Heights for the annual Adams Avenue Unplugged music festival.