Music Spotlight: Alia Torres

“As for me, I’ll hit an Alia Torres gig whenever I can.”

by Tom Ingram

Editor

When I first saw Alia Torres perform, I had no idea who she was. Before a magazine hits the stands, there’s a lot of work to do, and my team was coming off an energizing week of meeting with local business owners, so many of whom support this magazine today. To celebrate, we went to The Loft. My friend Allison Kershner was singing with the Schwob jazz ensemble. After the ensemble’s last set, my team decided to have another drink. About the time our drinks hit the table, Alia Torres hit the stage. Her band tore through a frenetic set of popular music. I traded knowing looks with my team. We would go on to book Alia and her group for our magazine release party, also at The Loft, where Alia, with the Magnetic Musos, The Loft’s versatile house band, again grooved through hits new and old.

Growing up, Alia’s father had a recording studio in their basement. He played the piano, and Alia remembers always being curious, wanting to do what her father did. Her first instrument was the violin, which she played in school, but she says the instrument never really took to her. She also dabbled with the guitar but was never seriously committed to the instrument. Through the years, she always loved music, but it would take a sojourn in Fiji to reignite her curiosity. After a brief time in Fiji, working at a small resort, Alia returned to Columbus, where she decided to pick up the guitar, this time with a passion. She decided that if she could go to Fiji, she could do anything. The dedication shows, and it’s hard to believe that she has played the guitar seriously now for only two years.

But her career as a performer wasn’t the next destination. Instead, Alia began running sound at The Loft. She realized that if she wanted to do sound, she needed to know what it was like to be on stage. She needed to know both sides of the project to master either of them. Though she wanted to perform, it would take another undulation of fate before she took the stage.

One day at The Loft, there to move a piano, Alia happened upon a flyer for the 1st Annual Uptown Idol competition. With a friend on guitar, she sang “Trouble in Mind,” a much-recorded jazz standard. Having worked sound at The Loft, Alia knew many of the other contestants, and she was sure she wouldn’t win. When she did win, it was a shock. Many of her friends were shocked, too, because they had no idea she could sing. But Alia can sing, and in her live shows she moves freely from low and guttural to high, driving energy. Her range is one of emotion, and she can lead the Magnetic Musos through a set of surprisingly varied tunes, stringing each together with her distinctively insistent voice.

More than anything, Alia is interested in performing for others as often as possible. Whether this is at The Loft with the Magnetic Musos, or solo at smaller venues like Bare Roots Farmacy, Alia eschews a competitive approach to her profession; I got the sense that she’d perform anywhere, so long as there were ten people interested in hearing. As for me, I’ll hit an Alia Torres gig whenever I can.

For more about her story, upcoming shows and booking information, as well as a chance to hear some of her music, visit her website, aliatorres.com.