Kany García en Vivo / Kany Garcia en Vivo

After two successful studio albums, the irrepressible Kany García recorded this self-titled offering in Colombia. Most of the material has been used before, dating back to her earliest singles and previous albums. That said, these re-recordings of those songs feature sometimes radical rearrangements, and it pays off handsomely. Here, perhaps most definitively, she proves that she is a world-class pop singer and songwriter whose language of choice is Spanish, rather than being boxed in as strictly a Latin pop singer. Previously, García melded everything from American-style 1990s pop, soul, indie rock, and mainstream pop to cumbia, ska, bolero, bomba, and plena, all of it wrapped inside her stellar voice. Here, though, the set features a gorgeous array of mid- and slow-tempo ballads (with the occasional uptempo number), and she offers them with a beguiling, adventurous production aesthetic as one track segues into another via brief instrumental interludes; each of these songs bears its own sense of dignified power and elegance. The set features a number of guests, including Franco De Vita, Spanish singer Antonio Carmona, Colombian duo Jorge Celedón & Jimmy Zambrano, and Spain's Dani Martín (former lead vocalist for El Canto del Loco). The album's lead single, "Que Te Vaya Mal," employs cumbia and electronica while nodding to polka via a two-note vamp on the tuba, momentarily moving toward hip-hop before winding back. Album closer "Si Yo Me Olvido" is underscored by beautiful flamenco handclaps as nylon-string guitars, pan flute, percussion, and a drum kit outline the guitars and her slightly smoky contralto, which soars and swoops, bringing out the brooding passion in the song. Highly recommended.