In 1985 at age 13 when her parents separated, Lhasa, her mother and her sisters settled in San Francisco where Lhasa started singing in a Greek cafe. She included Spanish language lessons in her high school studies. After viewing a documentary about Billie Holiday, Lhasa determined that she, too, would make a career in singing. In 1991 she traveled to Montreal to visit her sisters who were students at l'École nationale de cirque, the National Circus School of Canada, and she decided to make Montreal her home. Steeped in a Francophone culture for the first time, she sang for five years in bars, collaborating with rock guitarist Yves Desrosiers. In 1992, Denis Wolff, general manager of the independent Canadian record company, Audiogram, saw Lhasa performing, her head shaved, in front of a tiny nightclub audience. He was struck with "her personality, her charisma and her voice" – he soon signed her to the label. With Desrosiers she developed the material that eventually became her first album.
Born in Big Indian, New York, she grew up in the United States and Mexico, and moved to Montreal, Canada when she was twenty years old. After the success of her 1998 album La Llorona, which mixes everything from traditional Mexican music to klezmer to alternative rock, she moved to France. Her album The Living Road was released in 2003. In 2005 she won the “Americas” category in the Awards for World Music. She released her third and last album, Lhasa in 2009.
Lhasa de Sela died of breast cancer in Montréal, Québec, on 1st January 2010.
Rising
Lhasa de Sela Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I got caught in a storm
And carried away
I got turned, turned around
I got caught in a storm
That's what happened to me
So I didn't call
I was rising up
Hitting the ground
And breaking and breaking
I was caught in a storm
Things were flying around
And doors were slamming
And windows were breaking
And I couldn't hear what you were saying
I couldn't hear what you were saying
I couldn't hear what you were saying
I was rising up
Hitting the ground
And breaking and breaking
Rising up
Rising up
The song "Rising" by Lhasa de Sela is a powerful and intense portrayal of being caught in an emotional storm. The lyrics speak of feeling lost and confused, of being carried away and turned around. The storm is a metaphor for an internal struggle, an emotional turmoil that the singer is experiencing. The storm is so intense that the singer is unable to communicate with others or hear what they are saying.
As the storm rages on, the singer feels like they are rising up and hitting the ground repeatedly, breaking and breaking. The storm goes beyond just an emotional one as things start to fly around them, doors slam and windows break. The singer is helpless and unable to escape this internal storm that is taking over their life.
The repeated refrain of "Rising up" gives the song a sense of hope, as the singer is gradually able to rise above the storm and break free from the emotional turmoil that they were going through. Overall, "Rising" is a deeply powerful and moving song about struggling through emotional turmoil and coming out stronger on the other side.
Line by Line Meaning
I got caught in a storm
I found myself in a difficult and turbulent situation
And carried away
And swept away by the intensity of my problem
I got turned, turned around
I was disoriented and couldn't find my bearings
That's what happened to me
That's how I got in this situation
So I didn't call
I didn't reach out for help
And you didn't see me for a while
And you didn't hear from me for some time
I was rising up
I was trying to overcome my problems
Hitting the ground
But sometimes I would fail and feel defeated
And breaking and breaking
And suffer repeated setbacks
Things were flying around
The turmoil around me intensified
And doors were slamming
And I felt shut out and isolated
And windows were breaking
And everything seemed to be falling apart
And I couldn't hear what you were saying
And I became deaf to your advice and support
Rising up
But I kept striving to overcome my challenges
Rising up
And I kept on rising up
Contributed by Noah A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@RFactor669
It’s been well over a decade and I’m here in 2021 tearing up just as I was then.
@elliottucker154
you prolly dont give a damn but does any of you know a trick to log back into an Instagram account?
I was stupid forgot my password. I would appreciate any tricks you can give me.
@bishopsoren2682
@Elliot Tucker instablaster =)
@kingpest13
Me too. Touches me deeply
@DucMontecristo
Adieu Lhasa !!! Rise to the stars, to your new life. Thanks for giving us the best of yourself. Élèves-toi vers les étoiles, vers ta nouvelle vie. Et merci de nous avoir donné le meilleur de toi-même.
@annalucky8888
I feel like she is singing to me. I discovered her about a year before she passed away. Her music is the one point that I always return to. She makes me rediscover things I thought I had forgotten. And feel melancholy tinged with happiness. Though her songs are sad, they are also hopeful. It makes me feel hopeful for the future after things happened that made me hit rock bottom so many times, digging that hole further on my way down. But maybe I was just caught in a storm... I'll be listening to her albums til I'm old and withering.
@Lazariuk
She is singing the Black Rider’s song. See Bob Dylan’s song Black Rider
@toronjil492
No importa en qué idioma cante, esta mina entendió cómo se transmiten las emociones de manera muy visceral. Artista exquisita. Me diste ganas de llorar.
@josearrietaaraos834
Visceral total
@TOONFED
Every time i hear your songs, you will be alive, here inside of my heart, every song you wrote leaves a echoe on our souls, thank you for leaving us such big presents