ON the Beat | Perla Batalla’s High-Stepping Music for el Arte’s Sake

This edition of ON the Beat was originally emailed to subscribers on September 14, 2023. To receive Josef Woodard’s music newsletter in your inbox each Thursday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

As a ripe launch for the new season of the much-cherished ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! series, the spotlight turned to an artist with particularly deep roots in the series. Perla Batalla, the Ojai-based and world-traveled singer, was actually the inaugural artist here in 2006, the start of one of Santa Barbara’s most rewarding cultural enterprises. The series and four-day residency, sponsored by UCSB Arts & Lectures, focuses on Mexican regional and other Latin American-related music and dance. Batalla fits the bill perfectly.

Cut to 2023, and Batalla returned in high and energized form, with a versatile band in tow, featuring go-to Los Angeles pianist Karen Hammack, guitarist Gilbert Gonzalez on nylon-stringed guitar, and Michael Velasquez on electric bass. As Batalla explained, they had performed eight concerts in schools, including the customary concert stops at Isla Vista School, Guadalupe City Hall, and with a climactic, free-to-the-public, grand finale at the Marjorie Luke Theatre.