Gaby Moreno to play Saturday on KPFK’s ‘Travel Tips for Aztlan’

Gaby Moreno, the Guatemalan-born, L.A.-based singer-songwriter-guitarist whose new album “Postales” has critics swooning, is scheduled to perform a live set Saturday night on KPFK-FM’s long-running Latin-alternative music program, “Travel Tips for Aztlan.”

The show, which airs on 90.7 in Los Angeles and 98.7 in Santa Barbara, runs from 10 p.m. to midnight. Mariluz González, who co-hosts “Travel Tips” with the show’s founder, Mark Torres, said Moreno will be performing songs from “Postales,” which is being released under the label of Guatemalan superstar Ricardo Arjona.

Moreno performed on Arjona’s recent tour. She also joined him on the duet single “Fuiste Tú.”

Like Arjona, Moreno is a highly literate songwriter who shuns cliches and packs her lyrics with smart topical references and nuanced emotions. Her melodic and rhythmic style embraces folk, pop, jazz and bossa nova -- for starters.

A longtime critics’ darling, Moreno has been praised for her “sweet, soulful” voice that “can go from a dreamy/folksy, very laid back feel, to a tougher edge blast of R&B;” (Felix Contreras, NPR’s “Alt.Latino).

New York Times critic Jon Pareles, reviewing Moreno’s performance at last summer’s Latin Alternative Music Conference, noted the way she “plucked ragtimey syncopations on a well-worn acoustic guitar, and let loose a tangy, bluesy voice with the feistiness of Édith Piaf.”

“Postales” may provide the push to bring this deserving performer to an even wider public. For those interested in taking the pulse of alt-Latin pop, Saturday’s show should be worth tuning in.

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