Pink Martini vocalist China Forbes confesses that ‘music is holy for me’

It’s not a new sentiment, but it’s one that China Forbes believes in deeply. The veteran Pink Martini singer and solo artist has experienced and witnessed it too many times to count. 

An especially intense example of the former: She once went onstage in Turkey only a day after having an emotionally crushing miscarriage and somehow performed what a colleague deemed her best concert ever.

“I’m not religious, but music is holy for me,” Forbes says in advance of Pink Martini’s Symphony Center Presents Special Concert on March 4, which is sure to be a typically upbeat blend of jazz and pop with an international flair. “I just watched the Super Bowl, and it was so moving to watch the players and the Eagles coach crying during the National Anthem. Music is so galvanizing. It’s a language that we all speak and all understand, and it touches everyone. So it was very healing for me to have that experience after such a sad, tragic event. I felt so embraced to have the public there with me. I wouldn’t say I’d love to do it again, but it was definitely unforgettable.”

So, too, are stories from fans. During the second half of Pink Martini’s performances, audience members are encouraged to submit written song requests. It’s something the group started doing a year or so ago. More than occasionally, requests come with brief notes about a particular song’s personal impact.

Ranging from light and funny to deep and devastating, they’re read aloud by Forbes and Pink Martini band leader Thomas Lauderdale. One in particular brought Forbes to tears. The request was “Hang on Little Tomato,” an uptempo and hope-filled number that begins:

The sun has left and forgotten me

It’s dark, I cannot see

Why does this rain pour down

I’m gonna drown

In a sea

Of deep confusion

Somebody told me, I don’t know who

Whenever you are sad and blue

And you’re feelin’ all alone and left behind

Just take a look inside and you’ll find

You gotta hold on, hold on through the night

Hang on, things will be all right

“She said, ‘This is my favorite song,’” Forbes says, recalling the requester’s poignant words. “‘I was bullied when I was 13, and I used to listen to it at lunch and walking home. It saved my life. And I just want to thank you.’ And I just burst into tears. I don’t cry easily, because I’m a performer, and I have to sort of override my feelings and go onstage. But my son is 13, and there was just something about it. To hear so specifically that it comforted her when she was alone at lunch every day, or scared walking home, I just couldn’t handle that sort of convergence of sadness and gratitude. It was just so moving.”

Forbes says they might even compile all the best notes in a book.

Making music, of course, is the group’s primary focus now and always. The same goes for Forbes, whose latest solo album (“Full Circle,” due out in September) contains her first new material in 13 years. As with all of her solo efforts, it’s a significant departure from Pink Martini’s feel-good vibe.     

“Pink Martini is more universal and romantic and playful,” she says. “With my solo stuff, it’s my stories about my experiences, so it’s very personal.”

Composing and performing both types of music, she says, helps her maintain a sort of artistic and emotional equilibrium.        

“With Pink Martini, there’s this incredible, uplifting feeling. With my other stuff, it’s like my heart is being ripped apart onstage.”

And she wouldn’t have it any other way.