成人快手

Highlights from a studio session with the late Lhasa de Sela, one of Charlie鈥檚 favourite singers of recent years, recorded in 2009 for 成人快手 Radio 3.

Born into a bohemian family of a Mexican migrant worker, American photographer and nine siblings, Lhasa鈥檚 career was as unconventional as her upbringing. She spent part of her childhood in a converted school bus, travelling across the US and Mexico. In later life, she took nearly three years out of her busy touring schedule to take a circus show with her three sisters around France.

Lhasa鈥檚 first big break came in the late 1990s with her debut album which became a hit in the French speaking part of Canada: somewhat unusual for a record sung in Spanish. Over the course of the next dozen years she released just two more albums, mostly in French and English, which won her following all over North America and Europe. But last year she had to cancel planned international tours because she was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed away on 1st January 2010.

In this studio session Lhasa talks to Charlie about some the musicians she worked with and the creative process which lies behind her music. She also performs some of her best known songs plus an impromptu rendition of Sam Cooke鈥檚 'A Change is Gonna Come'.