"Do you have a good picture of me?" asked Xyra Harper-Cann when I called her to chat about stuff for this article. Xyra (whose nom d'artiste doesn't include her last name) then caught herself and laughed. "Oh, sorry. I sound like such a diva!"
That's okay, Xyra. You are a diva! At Blues Alley a few months back, Xyra sang like a diva, her voice swaying and swooping to somewhat melodramatic lyrics about life and love and death and art. She stood very still on stage, swaying her platinum blond hair ever so slightly. Such rocking out as was done that night was handled by her band: pianist Andrew Cann, clarinetist/flutist Donald Stapleson, cellist Fred Lieder, drummer Norman Thorne, bassist Larry Lawrence and guitarist Eric Ulreich. All together they're known as Xyra & Verborgen, and they'll be performing on Wednesday at Blues Alley in celebration of their new CD, "Frightening Beauty".
First of all, what's "Verborgen"? "It's a German word meaning 'hidden,' " explains Xyra. "But it's often used to express what's hidden from the conscious mind. It also means communicating on a subliminal level. And it could be something that's specifically hidden from human eyes, like flowers growing in deep woods." Xyra clearly has deeper things on her mind. In fact, when I call, I interrupt the start of a tarot reading. But Xyra delays it long enough to say that she began Verborgen three years ago after seeing "Nico Icon," a documentary on that other diva, the late Nico, known best for her work with the Velvet Underground.
She ran an ad looking for musicians and quickly had a working trio, but Xyra felt limited, and so she expanded her sonic palette by adding more instruments. "Now I feel I can get across what I feel," she says. As a child, Xyra took piano and voice lessons, so it really was only a matter of time before her passion for music turned into a desire to perform it.
Her goal now is to make deep music that might find its way onto radio's airwaves. "Why can't music of substance get back on Top 40 radio? Music that's not afraid to discuss serious issues." As for her own concerns, Xyra says she's "very worried about the human race, about where we're going and what we're doing. I don't know if I believe in prophecy, but these do seem like very dark times."
And to do battle in these dark times, what better armor than that of diva? "Oh, I'm just a pseudo-diva," she says with another laugh. "I'm a female singer who cares. I'm a chanteuse, a little on the glamorous side, so call me what you will."
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