GRAMMY-NOMINATED SINGER-SONGWRITER PERLA BATALLA TO HEADLINE VENTURA MUSIC FESTIVAL FRIDAY, AUGUST 2ND AT VENTURA COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Celebrated for Her Distinctive Voice, Emotional Honesty and Culture-Merging Compositions, Batalla Performs Just Ahead of her Eighth Full-Length Album, A Letter To Leonard Cohen: Tribute to a Friend Coming September 20

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOS ANGELES, CA. (TUESDAY JULY 9, 2024)– Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Perla Batalla, whose powerful voice, emotional honesty, and boundary-defying songs have captivated audiences at prestigious venues around the world, is confirmed to headline the Ventura Music Festival on Friday, August 2nd at 7pm at the Ventura College Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available here.

“I can’t wait to headline the 2024 Ventura Music Festival as the unofficial kick-off and sneak preview of songs from my newest album,” said Perla Batalla. “I’ve tried again and again to find the words to describe all that it meant having Leonard Cohen in my life, and to somehow thank him for years of encouragement, support, and love. A lifetime ago, when he and I were just getting to know each other, he said he recognized in me a beautiful sadness. Those words from him were an invitation to live in gentle acknowledgement of the range of things that make up who I am, including the darkness. Long before Leonard passed, he once asked me if I might continue to sing his songs after he was gone. My response, try to stop me.”

This appearance is the first live event of 2024 for Batalla after devoting the first half of the year on her forthcoming album, A Letter to Leonard Cohen: Tribute to a Friend, set for release through Symphonic on September 20th. The release date is auspicious, as it is the day before what would have been Leonard Cohen’s 90th birthday.

Batalla was Cohen’s collaborator and friend for more than two decades. Cohen, of course, was a revered, Grammy award winning singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as well as invested as Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honor. An icon in his native land and around the globe, he is considered the poet laureate of Canada.

What immediately sets this new album apart from other Cohen tributes is that Perla’s early career was guided by Cohen, who personally encouraged her journey as an artist. After singing with Cohen for so many years, she brings her own unique perspective to the Cohen canon.

Batalla embarked on this current recording project in Barcelona in early 2020, just before the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic. When the world reopened, she returned to Spain, only to discover that the project hard drives had vanished. Undeterred, she returned to her home in Ojai, California, and — fueled by her remaining savings and big-hearted contributions from friends and fans — returned to the studio to start the recording project anew, this time including two of her original compositions, both inspired by her late beloved friend.

Re-tracking in Barcelona, New York, Ojai, and Santa Monica, Perla’s diverse sonic palette blends her magnificent voice with the splendid ferocity of flamenco musicians, a moving gospel choir, a plaintive oud, and live string section. In a bit of good fortune, Broadway great Patrick Page (Hadestown, All the Devils are Here) made himself available to perform alongside her on Cohen’s “Democracy”, an all too timely ode to the fragility of the American experiment. Multi–Grammy winning producer Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Dr. Dre, Encanto) produced the chilling track.

Hearing Perla Batalla’s voice for the first time is an epiphany. One may go to hear the classic songs but will end up feeling the profound joy and pathos in music as never before. There is a subtlety of tone, a depth of emotion, and a sublime expressiveness as she interprets songs with her transcendent voice, that make the experience of this music deeply moving and absolutely unforgettable.

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