Alisa Amador, 2022 Tiny Desk Contest Winner

Bob Boilen | May 31, 2022
It undoubtedly was a working day of joyful tears. And individuals joyful tears for Alisa Amador, the winner of the 2022 Small Desk Contest, came at a time when she had been looking at placing her tunes vocation on maintain. For the personnel of NPR and the Very small Desk crew, it was our very first Tiny Desk concert with an viewers in over 800 days, and Alisa’s charming audio surely intensified our spinning feelings.

Alisa Amador opened with her Contest-winning entry “Milonga accidental,” a tune about embracing your contradictions. It is a track that our judges — iLe, Significant Krit, Michelle Zauner (of Japanese Breakfast), Raveena, Nate Chinen (of member station WBGO), Very small Desk producer Bobby Carter and I — all identified to be so loaded with passion. I frequently drop for a track because of the lyrics, and this is the initial Little Desk Contest winner whose winning track is in Spanish. Irrespective of the point that I really don’t talk Spanish, I felt the conflict, the yearning and the song’s questioning.

Alisa grew up in Boston, Maine, Puerto Rico and Argentina, and was lifted by Rosi and Brian Amador, her Latin-folk musician mother and father who participate in in the band Sol y Canto they have been also in attendance. She’s been singing due to the fact she was four, and has been getting into the Small Desk Contest each and every yr because 2018. In actuality, the song “Together,” which closes this concert, was an astonishing entry from 2020. For COVID security, we constrained the audience to a small group of masked NPR staff, however the sing-along for the closing keep track of was continue to strong.

Alisa also set her successful track to a lovely string arrangement done by a Washington D.C. quartet and rehearsed for the initial time just hrs before the effectiveness. The preparations have been initially performed by Jamie Oshima just after a recording session a several several years again, and then Alisa’s mate Noah Fishman transcribed the arrangement. For the following a few songs, she’s joined by Jamie Oshima (guitar, keys), Noah Harrington (bass) and Jacob Thompson (drums, keys).

“When will I know how to decipher my function? / When will I come to feel at residence in my voice?” As Alisa sings individuals phrases to her winning entry in Spanish at the Tiny Desk, I’m thinking: Most likely that minute is now.

Established Checklist
“Milonga accidental”
“Timing”
“Slow Down”
“Together”

MUSICIANS
Alisa Amador: vocals, guitar
Jamie Oshima: guitar, keys
Noah Harrington: bass
Jacob Thompson: drums, keys
Kristin Bakkegard: violin
Nick Montopoli: violin
Paul Bagley: viola
Carol Anne Bosco: cello

Very small DESK Crew
Producers: Bob Boilen, Kara Frame, Lia Crockett, Elle Mannion
Audio Recording & Mix Engineer: Josh Rogosin
Collection Producer: Bobby Carter
Editor: Joshua Bryant
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene, Estefania Mitre
Generation Assistant: Jill Britton
Small Desk Team: Michael Zamora, Ashley Pointer, Dwi Partowardojo, Bill Wright, Stacey Foxwell, Maia Stern, Suraya Mohamed
Little Desk Contest Crew: Jessica Goldstein, Devon Williams
VP, Visuals and Audio: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

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