Luz Casal in Brussels: Popular Spanish singer set to woo her Belgian fans
Spanish songstress Luz Casal will be best known to a Belgian audience of a certain vintage. After three decades in the industry, she has survived the vagaries of her profession,and also a cancer scare, and is still going strong. Her loyal Belgian fan base will be delighted to hear that the Asturian has pencilled in Brussels for a keenly-awaited performance this summer. She will take to the stage of the city’s Ancienne Belgique venue for a show that is sure to be a sell-out.
It is little wonder: after many years, Casal remains one of the most prominent Spanish singers and her appearance represents something of a triumph over adversity. It was back in 2007 that breast cancer made her quit the stage for a spell. However, far from being discouraged, in between chemotherapy sessions she managed to craft Vida Tóxica (Toxic Life), a complex and poetic album, as a riposte to questions about her health and state of mind. But overcoming the odds is nothing new for Casal.
Fans may recall that in 1982 she released her first self-titled album was inspired by a musical genre–rock–that was then kind of taboo for female singers. What followed was one of the most celebrated Spanish tours of the 1980s, El Rock de una Noche de Verano (The Rock of a Summer Night).
Down the years she’s been especially well received in France where she has enjoyed a second market that has been ever expanding over the course of the years and through multiple tours. South America has also enthusiastically embraced the singer, who, in the early ’90’s, took part in the historic festival organized by Amnesty International in Chile where she shared the stage with Sinead O’Connor, Jackson Browne and Peter Gabriel, among others.
Her father’s death and various personal mishaps – plus a reputation for being extremely self-demanding music-wise – led to a new recording 5-year hiatus. But the release in 2009 of La Pasión (Passion), a journey through the Spanish-American
popular music of the last century, marked a return to form. The album sold over 300,000 copies worldwide and earned her numerous awards including the Medal of Arts and Letters in France.
Despite a fresh cancer scare, in February 2011 she performed at the Madrid Arena for the Spanish Cancer Association and the Spanish Breast Cancer Research Group. The proceeds of her concerts now exceed €200,000. Back on top form and in the peak of her creativity, she’s just played for the first time in Canada and Bahrein and celebrated her 30 years in the industry with the release of a new compilation album.
Far from being merely a nostalgia trip the album Un Ramo De Rosas (A Bouquet Of Roses) has been hailed as a “toast to the past that does not forget a nod to the future.”
Her Brussels show on 22 June is expected to be a sell out so those who want to catch a rare glimpse of this musical veteran are advised to get a ticket now!
