The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #121029   Message #2643347
Posted By: TonyA
29-May-09 - 12:24 AM
Thread Name: Vashti Bunyan - your opinion of her singing?
Subject: RE: Vashti Bunyan - your opinion of her singing?
quote: ...she has not been blessed with a resonant Earth-mother type of voice so revered in folk clubs for its "richness". So she has written songs which match the voice she uses to the best of her ability, by singing her own songs.

Excellent point! Thank you, Indrani.

Some people suggested an artificial quality about her singing -- "affected," "pretentious," "ethereal," "spaced-out," or "drippy hippy air fairy." But Vashti Bunyan, like Kate Rusby and all the other singers I love, sings in her own natural voice, without tension or pretension. The only thing unusual about Vashti Bunyan's singing is, as you said, that she doesn't have a type of voice common among performers. She's not someone who would be asked to sing the national anthem at a sporting event. But more credit to her for the courage to sing in spite of that, and for bringing out the sweetness in her own voice rather than straining it or trying to sound like someone else.