Perla Batalla. Photo by Guy Webster
VENTURA — Focus on the “Masters Popular Artist Spotlight Interviews Return with A Conversation with Perla Batalla” on Sunday, March 17, 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Namba Performing Art Center – 47 S. Oak St., Ventura.
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Perla Batalla earns critical acclaim for her distinctive voice, emotional honesty, and culture-merging compositions. Perla was born into a family immersed in music. Her father was a Mexican mariachi, and her Argentine mother ran “Discoteca Batalla”, the family’s Spanish language record shop where Perla received a musical education cutting across genre and language. At 15, Perla left home to begin a music career. She studied opera and performed jazz, country, soul, and rock. It wasn’t until she worked with the legendary Leonard Cohen that her career began in earnest. After recording and touring with Cohen for over a decade, Perla launched a solo career with his encouragement. Since then, she has released seven albums, performed for film and TV, staged two one-woman shows, and has performed in the some of the most prestigious venues throughout the world. Perla’s original musical, Blue House, about Frida Kahlo was produced by The Ojai Playwrights Conference to critical praise. Her homage to her mentor In the House of Cohen continues to play to sold-out audiences. A second CD devoted to the songs of Leonard Cohen will be released in 2024. Perla has been honored with The Ojai Playwrights Conference Cultural Champion Award, two U.N. awards: the Earth Charter Award for extraordinary devotion to social and economic justice, and the Environmental Peace Building Award, for advancing social justice through music.
Michele Rein at Passion Flowers