Hana Zara At Radio Bean In Burlington Vermont October 8, 2014

Words by Tim Lewis.

I had a great time seeing music last night. Hana Zara was set to play Radio Bean at 8pm, so I headed out a bit after 7:30 and was in and settled at 8. She went on perfectly on time and wove a spell of visceral stories that just rolled out of her voice and acoustic guitar. Last time I saw her, everything she played was new. Last night she mixed it up with a couple from Tatterhood, Afterlife to open the show and a sweet Lithuania in the middle, and Artist Junkie from her first album. She played a bunch of new songs that I’m just beginning to know. The audience was the usual enchanted silent crowd, except for chatting floating across the divide, from the restaurant next door. Her lyrics draw movies in front of your eyes, and when in the song The North, she sang the line about not minding if someone rooted through the recycling bottles, just not at 2am, it pulled a sympathetic laugh out of a guy at the bar. She closed with a song about how we all live in The Dirt, and when thinking about all the war and corruption that is in the news, I think there is something to her analogy. Her set was 45 minutes of awe and beauty and I’m so lucky to be able to hear someone of her caliber, by just getting up and walking down the street.

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.