‘Thanks for not forgetting about me and coming out tonight,’ remarks Alynda Segarra, three songs into Hurray For The Riff Raff’s thirteen-song set at a crammed Whelan’s. It’s over nine years since Alynda and her band charmed punters at the Kilkenny Roots Festival with an acoustic set of gypsy folk songs. Eight albums and as many line-up changes later, Segarra and her chosen players continue on a musical path that has found the New Orleans-based singer, songwriter, musician, and poet continuing to experiment to great effect across multiple genres of folk-influenced music.
An ultra-passionate writer and performer, Segarra’s writing has often dealt with personal issues of the past. Her latest project LIFE ON EARTH took something of a U-turn, visiting more present day and political issues of American colonialism and injustice, alongside the challenges of survival while surrounded by a world in disarray.
As expected, much of tonight’s setlist draws heavily from the current album. Introducing patched drums and retro analog keyboards, the sound on the album is a slight departure from the band’s previous work and alongside their salsa-influenced rhythms the songs work magnificently in the live setting.
She instantly connects with the audience, opening the set at pace with Wolves, swiftly followed by the dance inducing Pierced Arrows. The guitar driven Pointed At The Sun captures the frustration, possibly semi-autobiographical, of an artist struggling to remain creative. ‘You can take my life, but don't take my home,’ she sings proudly on her gentrification anthem Rican Beach, taken from her last record, THE NAVIGATOR. Speaking passionately from the heart, she introduces Precious Cargo as an indictment of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, closing the song with the chant, ‘No, me no never see no handcuffs, ‘til I get to the U.S.A.’
The Body Electric is dedicated to all the survivors of violence against women and minorities, and she adds that a similar motivation inspired Saga, based on Christine Blasey Ford’s Senate testimony about her sexual abuse. Segarra and her three sidekicks returned to material from THE NAVIGATOR for two encores, Hungry Ghost and a powerful delivery of Pa’lante, closing what was a spectacular return to Dublin.
Segarra’s career has progressed from the stage shy performer of a decade ago to being the Patti Smith of her generation. An avid commentator on social injustice and inequality, her performance this evening was further evidence of an artist that can capture the intensity of post-punk, rap, folk, and New Orleans’s Street music and mould them into something quite beautiful.
Also worthy of a mention is support act Sister Ray. Her delicate songs dealing with interpersonal suffering and emotional survival were played to an attentive and appreciative audience who hung on to her every word.
Review and photograph by Declan Culliton