Mirel Wagner – a woman and a guitar

Pure, rough and ambient.

The tent is shady and the stage is lit only for Mirel Wagner. A woman and a guitar. Wagner has the talent of telling stories like Johnny Cash. Her voice is like velvet and Western films.

Mirel Wagner. Photo: Terhi Hytönen

There’s only a few listeners in the beginning but more and more people flow in and the crowd gets bigger. Everyone listens in total silence. Some swing from side to side calmly with their eyes closed. The reception is warm and expecting.

The stage is full, full of this soulful voice accompanied by a melancholic guitar. ”It’s nice to see so many of you, you and your heads. And hands too!”, says the artist after the second song, Despair. Dressed in black and white the singer hypnotizes the audience.

”Can you see under my dress?”, she laughs and the audience laughs along as an answer. ”Good!”, Wagner replies and plays the first chords from The Well. Her voice fills the tent and resonates through one’s body.

The further the show goes on the fiercer the singer gets. Wagner takes a rougher grip of the guitar and opens her voice wider, though calming down towards the end. The last chord fades away and the audience makes noise for the first time. Wagner thanks and leaves the stage.

”I feel like crying”, I hear a girl say walking away from the stage.

She’s probably not the only one to say so.

Text: Monica Gathuo
Photo: Terhi Hytönen