Stimulating Valentine's Day events planned
throughout the local area

A performance of spicy Latin love songs, an exotic tea tasting, sensual yoga and Valentine cruises are among the local events planned this week for those struck by Cupid's arrow or those looking to stir up some steamy romance for Valentine's Day, Tuesday, February 14th, and the days before.

LATIN LOVE BOLEROS — Valentine passion and drama is what "operachi" singer Juanita Ulloa intends to create with her concert performance of Latin love boleros at 7 p.m. Sunday, February 12th, at Monsoon's, 1212 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica. Tickets are $10.

Ulloa will perform romance-heavy Latin classics such as "BÈsame Mucho" ("Kiss Me A Lot") and "Mil Besos" ("Thousand Kisses") as well as originals.

"I'm sort of a reversed Chicana," says Ulloa, who was born in the United States, and then taken at age two and raised in Mexico, Panama and Spain.

Ulloa is convinced that Latin love songs are more intense than many other forms of romantic music.

"Boleros have a passion that is deeper and a mood more intense, and have a rhythmic flavor of spontaneity," she says.

Ulloa is a classically trained opera singer who combines operatic styles of singing with traditional mariachi, in an effort to expand on the genre. She enjoys experimenting with new rhythms, sounds and ideas, she says. Her musical inspirations include Debussy, Leonard Bernstein, Augustine Lara and Maria Grever.

Ulloa says she is heavily influenced by the few Mexican women songwriters who gained popularity in the 1930s — songwriters who preceded the wave of 1960s American counterparts such as Joni Mitchell. A favorite of Ulloa's is Consuelo Vel·squez, whose songs are included in her repertoire.

"Female composers are one of the greatest gifts given to the musical world, because of the emotional intimacy many of them are able to export through songs," says Ulloa.

During her performance, Ulloa tells vignettes between the historical songs that she covers.

For her Santa Monica performance, she will be backed by guitarist Juan Carlos Sorez and his mariachi quartet.

Appropriately enough for Valentine's Day, Ulloa says her songs are for people in all stages of the love game, not just for those high on the initial stages of passion.

"I have a message for people on the cusp of a relationship, for lovers who have had enough of their relationships or for people in a 'love me or leave me' stage who need more commitment from their lovers," says Ulloa.

Information, (310) 576-9996.
http://www.juanitamusic.com