Saturday, January 1, 2011

Lhasa de Sela -- "La Marée Haute" (2003)


Sur la marée haute
Je suis montée
La tête est plaine
Mais le coeur n'a
Pas assez

When the tide was high
I took to the road
The head is full
But the heart has
Not enough

Lhasa de Sela -- or simply "Lhasa" -- died of breast cancer on January 1, 2010.  She was 37 years old.

Lhasa was born in a small town in the Catskill Mountains in 1972.  She was a child of the counterculture.  Her Lebanese-American mother and Mexican father named her after the capital of Tibet, and she had a very nomadic childhood -- she and her sisters and parents wandered throughout Mexico and the United States, living in their school bus.  




Her third and final album -- consisting entirely of English songs -- was released in 2009.  She recorded it after learning she had breast cancer.

I first heard Lhasa's music during what turned out to be a very significant occasion for me -- although I didn't appreciate how significant at the time.  It will always have a very personal meaning for me because of its associations, but I think this music stands on its own.


Here's the song:



Here's a video of Lhasa performing the song on television:




Here's a link you can use to buy the song from iTunes:

La Marée Haute - The Living Road


Here's a link you can use if you prefer Amazon:




1 comment:

  1. In French, "la tête" (le coeur) doesn't mean "the head" (the heart) but "my head" (my heart).

    Still, a crushingly beautiful song.

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