Lhasa de Sela

"Just ten years ago passed away one of the greatest singers of our generation, Lhasa de Sela - on january the 1st of 2010, opening that decade with sorrow. To all the people who once took time to listen and spend time with her voice, her 'duende' who manifested thru the 3 magnetic albums she recorded, you know how important Lhasa became to me too.

To pay homage to her constant presence in our lives, and to open this new decade with joy, I took time to dive back into some material we recorded together around april 2009, at her home in Montreal. Images and sounds that were recorded at the time of two little private shows she performed in town, for friends mostly, just before starting a new tour for her album. Only some extracts of the live performances were published on youtube at the time.

In those ten years, I wasn't able to open this material even once, until 3 weeks ago. And never expected to find what I rediscovered then. With the agreement of her family and friends, we realized it was worth doing something with it.

"GOING IN" is the name of this short, 30 minutes film. It's an intimate moment with her, at home, in rehearsals, with her voice (in french) guiding us through some beautiful meditations, showing her little known (and gorgeous) paintings, browsing thru some old black and white photos of the family and life, talking about struggles and joys, and the learning of 'how to become'.

What struck me the most while working on this material, was her constant presence, or we could even say "topicality". Her humor, her tenderness resonating into our lives in 2020 - up to a wonderful story about Victor Hugo, the spirits and the desire to fully engage with life - again. "GOING IN" - as jumping into life, understanding the cosmic cycles and playing, always playing."

Vincent Moon