Mirah Goes Buggy in San Francisco

Mirah / Photo by Muhammad Asranur

In a school play-like setting with wooden foldout chairs, hardwood floors, and a walk-up stage, Mirah and Spectratone International performed the entirety of Share This Place: Stories and Observations, a multi-media tribute to insects based in part on the writings of French scientist/poet, Jean Henri Fabre. Sounds weird, right? It was, but Mirah's stunningly sweet soprano accompanied by the plunky stylings of a lute, cello, accordion, and hand drums made the creepy crawlers onscreen, well, quite interesting and -- dare I say -- benevolent.

Strikingly similar to Portugese folk act Madredeus, Mirah and Spectratone International played the 12-song set, partially inspired by a summer that cellist Lori Goldston spent "sitting in her garden," to a nearly sold-out crowd of about 250 at San Francisco's Swedish American Hall Monday. "It was a research project," Goldston said of her idea for Share This Place. But the lyrics, written in the unmistakably playful fashion with which Mirah (full name: Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn) has garnered a sizable following, sounded less like a college thesis than a coy, but masterfully written, burrow into the world of bugs.

Check out pictures from last night on page 2.