Alisa Amador opened with her Contest-winning entry “Milonga accidental,” a song about embracing your contradictions. It’s a song that our judges — iLe, Big Krit, Michelle Zauner (of Japanese Breakfast), Raveena, Nate Chinen (of member station WBGO), Tiny Desk producer Bobby Carter and I — all found to be so filled with passion. I often fall for a song because of the lyrics, and this is the first Tiny Desk Contest winner whose winning song is in Spanish. Despite the fact that I don’t speak Spanish, I felt the conflict, the yearning and the song's questioning.
Alisa grew up in Boston, Maine, Puerto Rico and Argentina, and was raised by Rosi and Brian Amador, her Latin-folk musician parents who play in the band Sol y Canto; they were also in attendance. She’s been singing since she was four, and has been entering the Tiny Desk Contest every year since 2018. In fact, the song “Together,” which closes this concert, was an astonishing entry from 2020. For COVID safety, we limited the audience to a small group of masked NPR employees, yet the sing-along for the closing track was still powerful.
Alisa also set her winning song to a lovely string arrangement performed by a Washington D.C. quartet and rehearsed for the first time just hours before the performance. The arrangements were originally done by Jamie Oshima after a recording session a few years back, and then Alisa’s friend Noah Fishman transcribed the arrangement. For the next three songs, she’s joined by Jamie Oshima (guitar, keys), Noah Harrington (bass) and Jacob Thompson (drums, keys).
“When will I know how to decipher my purpose? / When will I feel at home in my voice?” As Alisa sings those words to her winning entry in Spanish at the Tiny Desk, I’m thinking: Perhaps that moment is now.
SET LIST
“Milonga accidental”
“Timing”
“Slow Down”
“Together”
MUSICIANS
Alisa Amador: vocals, guitar
Jamie Oshima: guitar, keys
Noah Harrington: bass
Jacob Thompson: drums, keys
Kristin Bakkegard: violin
Nick Montopoli: violin
Paul Bagley: viola
Carol Anne Bosco: cello
