By Liz Lopez
Pilar Andújar, well known to her Austin and international fans for her talent as a flamenco dancer and vocalist, has arrived in town from Spain as part of her U. S. tour that started January 30th through March 6th for her first album, “Andró,” released as La Gypsy. Andró means “on my way” or “path” in the gypsy language “Caló.”
A statement from her website describes her work on this musical project. “I chose this word because the album was born of a long and hard way to through fears that did not let me be. Finally I decided to jump and I started another adventure that goes from the outside to the inside, without labels about who I am.” She adds more about the writing process. “Writing songs has always been a natural way of putting everything in order since childhood. Even the fact of playing or spinning a song, could act therapeutically so everything else, even pain, passed to second place.”
Pilar has been a singer and dancer for the award winning Austin based Atash Band in multiple venues, including the Stateside Paramount Theater for Atash’s spectacular album release show of “Everything is Music.” The vocalist states, “Although I have been singing for fourteen years for different bands and projects, it is the first time that I dare to release the character of the dancer and to put my inner voice on a CD, without secrets or limits.”
“Andró” was nominated in seven categories in the Min Awards-18 (Independent Music in Spain). Also, the song, “La ultima palabrita,” won the first award in the “Nubo Film Production” competition. She has toured with this album in Mexico (Guanajuato and Morelia), Argelia (Argel and Instituto Cervantes of Orán) and now in Texas.
The album contains nine tracks, including “Carousel,” “El Cairo,” “La Última Palabrita,” “Mal de Amores,” “En el Último Minuto,” “Un Voluntario de Amor,” “El Personaje,” “Andró” and the bonus track, “La Última Palabrita.” Pilar explains on her website, “The order of the songs is chronological and narrates my changes of residence, of country, the difficulties of starting from the square one, the death of a great love and what it can happen in the last minute … when you really do not expect anything.”
The Austin show is at the One-2-One Bar, 1509 S Lamar Blvd, Ste 600. The special double bill is with La Gypsy from Spain, taking the stage at 8:30pm and Atash at 10:15pm. The tickets are $10 in advance and are available through holdmyticket.com. Find and view more information about the artist on https://www.youtube.com/user/pilarandujar and http://www.lagypsy.es/ (in English and Spanish).