Cortez, Cabral Mix Poems, Rich Melodies

Anybody unfamiliar with the work of Argentine singers Alberto Cortez and Facundo Cabral might have been utterly baffled by their highly idiosyncratic show Saturday at the Wiltern Theatre.

Products of a bygone era when people actually had time to ponder issues such as personal identity, the essence of happiness and the need to fight intellectual oppression, both men became famous on their own all over Latin America in the ‘60s--Cortez with his romanticized approach to popular music, Cabral with his almost iconic mixture of song and spoken-word performance.

Although Saturday’s show--their first ever in Los Angeles as a duo--had a casual, improvised feel, it was actually a virtual re-creation of the same program they have been offering since 1993, when they decided to perform together.

Accompanied by Spanish pianist Ricardo Miralles, Cabral, 61, and Cortez, 58, sang free-form poems set to music that at times echoed tangos, then resonated with the influence of the “new song” movement of Silvio Rodriguez and Joan Manuel Serrat. At times, the symbolism became heavy handed, as in “Yo Quiero Ser Bombero,” a tragicomic ditty about a man who wants to be a fireman against everybody else’s expectations.

Cabral’s highly philosophical message worked better in the context of humorous anecdotes. A hilarious segment in which he told jokes about his hometown, a village “so poor that even the rainbows came in black and white,” was the highlight of the show.

The predominantly Latin audience applauded Cabral’s witty remarks, as well as the pair’s constant references to Latin American heavyweights such as Mexican poet Octavio Paz, Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla. Whereas a working knowledge of Spanish and an awareness of Latin American reality were essential factors for a true appreciation of the show, the patient listener was rewarded with some truly poetic, and at times richly melodic, moments.