1.
Can you tell me about your life in music? Please
start as close to the beginning as possible. (Musical Activities you were
involved with growing up) (The first time you played an instrument) (The
lessons you took growing up) (Musical events that impacted you growing up)
Her family is very musical. Music education started
in the womb parents are very musical sang traditional songs. Father played the
guitar, mother sang. When she was 3 or 4 sent her to piano classes, began learning
to read music do solfege (solfeo). This was her beginning she began with
classical music. As time passed she began taking different classes in high
school. In high school she entered the national school of music. She was doing
both for a while. At that time Jazz music and blues is what she was really
drawn to. The delta blues! She felt a strong connection to the sound of the
guitar and the voice. She is still in love with Ella Fitz Gerald and the
beautiful voices found in Jazz music. She attended a few jazz classes and big
band classes and she was involved in singing for them. She says it was very
interesting and beautiful. And then I guess my last impression or impact in
music is when she was an adult and began singing mostly by herself trying to
figure out what she wanted to do. She had already begun traveling to the states
and get to know another culture and this is when she started to go back to the
music that her parents listened to. Since then she fell in love with the
connection that she found within that and she stayed there.
2.
What were some family musical activities that
you remember?
I guess my father always kind of, if
he was feeling good, my father didn’t drink right but he was always into the
music whenever we had a family gathering, or he had friends over (sometimes
they wouldn’t leave until the next day) and to me that was normal. It was a
regular thing he would have musical friends over and they would play. They had
concert recitals together it was another way of interacting. Sometimes they would
go and watch music at different places where you could still listen to
folkloric music. Her parents would take her to see those musicians, but most of
her special musical experiences were at home.
3.
What is the first instrument that you received,
or bought?
I think it was a guitar. She began
getting interested in the guitar. Even though her father played, he never
really taught her how to play. “It was more like I would watch him, and I liked
it but I never really was interested. My only interest was singing. It wasn’t
until I realized that I had to, somebody had to accompany me in order for me to
sing so I realized that I can’t or I couldn’t at that time, or really you never
can in life rely on someone as much as you can rely on yourself, so I started
to teach myself how to play and when this really really dear friend of mine
realized He gave me a guitar.
a.
Can you tell me about that experience?
She
was about 24 or 25 years old
4.
At what age did you begin performing?
The first time she was on stage singing
she was 14.
a.
Can you tell me about that experience?
It was actually kind of fun and
funny because I was really into jazz and blues right so there are a couple of
places in the south of Mexico City that had stages that would allow that kind
of music. So one of them was the New Orleans Jazz club in San Angel, or
something like that and they hired me to do like a weekly thing [performance] I
can’t remember how many days or if it was just one, I can’t even remember but
that was her first regular gig. That was interesting and it was funny because
at that time I barely spoke English so to be singing in English was a little
like a blind man. I didn’t even know what I was saying. So that was
interesting. Before I guess I did little things with friends you know other
musicians that would do jams or gigs (more laid back) or things like that but I
was more drawn to the stage; The stage scenario versus just jamming.
Learned to speak English? (Still in that
process, I’m still learning I guess there was a period in my life that I was in
Mexico City and I had a lot of friends that were from Scotland and I moved here
in 2007 and I was by myself so I kind of had to learn. Interesting process for
me to not just absorb the words but also the culture and what certain words
mean and how one little thing can mean something so different in another
context like in any language.)
5.
What were your favorite songs growing up?
There is a beautiful song that I
still look back to with a lot of respect and I don’t know, I adore it its called
Lullaby of Birdland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY8zK4R9oE8 and there is another one called Take the A
Train. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ_4cRG8B1g in this
particular version of it Ella Fitz Gerald does this marvelous solo, scatting,
it blew my mind it was the first time that I had ever heard a voice doing that
I had never really heard before that a voice being able to solo so to me that
was like it blew my mind I was like 10 or 11 I think.
6.
What artists did you grow up listening to, and
what impact do you think they had on your style?
It’s really interesting I was very lucky I think
because I am the seventh child of a big family. I am not only the seventh child
but between my 6 brothers and sisters there is almost 10 years of difference.
My older sister she’s 20 years older than me and among them there are like 2
years apart so they are really from, almost from another generation, and so are
my parents they’re really much older than the regular parents my age, so I had
almost like my grandparents and great grandparents music through my parents
that’s how the folkloric vein kind of came and then my sister and my brother
like my big sister and brother they listened to 70s music 60s music and my
brother that is next to me the one that is almost 10 years older than me he’s
the one that introduced me to from Metallica, to The Police, Rolling Stones, to
Pink Floyd. I don’t know I listened to a lot of music growing up and I was very
avid to listen to different things so my brothers and sisters they all kind of
pitched in to oh you have to listen to this and there I was listening to so
many different genres. (3 girls, 4 boys) [Impact?] oh I think it’s
huge I think that it gave a bigger library to go from if that makes any sense,
or to grab from. I think it gave me a better understanding of the beauty of
music without making any judgments and it gave me a bigger understanding of
what I like because I really did listen to a lot of music growing up so as I
was growing too my taste in music became more defined and my music taste became
more tasteful for me. I’m not saying my taste is tasteful it’s just for me it
became more appropriate.
7.
At what age did you know that you wanted to be a
professional musician?
I don’t know, I never really saw it as having to
choose until I really finished high school that’s pretty much when I had to
choose and I still decided to do both (have a career?) it was very difficult to
do both. So I don’t know I think I’ve just been a singer since I was probably
like I think that time when I listened to Ella Fitz Gerald doing that beautiful
solo is when I chose, like 10 or 11. I never really second guessed how it was going
to work out, of course when my family kind of made me realize that I had to
choose a career so I could really become and do something with it, it was
different, but I think at around 10 or 11 I knew that I was going to be a
singer.
8.
How do you learn your music? (Just by listening,
finding the music score?)
I never (look at the music scores) unfortunately I
didn’t practice it enough to now make it part of my… I mean I can always go
there but it takes me, It’s faster for me to listen to the song a couple of
times learn it and then start playing, it’s just my faster way of learning a
song is like that listening two or three times and see how close and learning
it also with the chords that I can play in guitar or jarana and then just starting
to make my version of it and see how close, if I like it and of course I always
record myself when I am learning a song so that I can see if I like it.
9.
What are some characteristics or qualities that
you like to include in your music? What type of sound do you try to evoke and
project? (What aspects do you like to hear in your music?)
I think it’s always the acoustic sound the acoustic
sound comes natural to me I am kind of more drawn to that. And also I think
that I try to be the bridge for the song instead of choosing the song that I
like best, the song that I can be the bridge for in the best way. In other
words like, what song can I do that I would actually make it the best that the
song can be? So I guess it’s an honest to the song sound. I want the song to
be… and I want people to connect to the song through me and through the
musicians that play with me but more it’s about the song.
a.
Instruments you like to include in your band- Right now I
really like the sound of the quartet that we have so the opera bass- I’ve
always been in love with the sound of the opera bass and how well it blends
with the voice and the guitar. I love the piano and right now I have been
playing around a lot with George Prado and Adam Prado, so that sound is really
beautiful and percussions I really… everything kind of comes out more if the
percussions are there cajon or congas it’s really beautiful to have that sound.
I also like to have a harp sometimes or another guitar for the rancheras. I’m
working on the show for next year that’ll have two guitars and one or maybe two
voices that is the very traditional ranchera sound.
10.
What are some of your favorite genres to perform
& why?
I think my most favorite is definitely rancheras.
Just because it’s so simple it’s kind of like the blues you know it’s so direct
to the soul like from the song to the soul to the soul it doesn’t have it,
anything in between I think, so I like that rawness. I like tangos, I like
tangos a lot because they are so elegant and at the same time they don’t lose
out the… I guess it’s still very emotional. And I like, I like boleros they’re
more elegant not as emotional but they are very beautiful too. Of course I like
anything world music I love gypsy music I love Brazilian music, I love pado
there are different things that I absolutely love.
11.
What are some of your favorite songs to perform
& why?
It depends it’s like how you choose different music
to be your favorite and then you get tired of it and then something else comes
along and that’s your favorite music. At this moment I guess I’m recording an
album so I think the songs that are in that album are right now my favorite
songs there’s a tango called, “La ultima Copa” that I am fascinated by it.
There’s a song by Jose Alfredo Jimenez called “Corazon” that’s another one that
I am just drawn an fascinated by too. There’s a couple of songs that I wrote
that are kind of coming back to me, you know how it is you write something or
you do something and you like it and then you get tired of it and forget about it
and now that I’m bringing it back I kind of like it again.
12.
What message are you looking to send with your
music?
That’s an interesting question especially during
times like this. I think there are three things that I am trying to say when I
am on stage. one is for the culture to kind of thrive (sustainability) for all
of us that see themselves in me to thrive and remember that we are royal and
beautiful and you know culturally royal that’s what I mean and of course to the
little girls to know that there are roles over them the ones that they see on
TV they are beautiful too. I think the second one is of resistance that we are
where we are because we have been here for many many many many many years. And
lastly as a woman I think it’s also important for me to send a message of love
and unity.
Why did you choose Mexican Folk music? I think it
started out of nostalgia just listening to the music, but it kind of once I
started you know how it is like you’re listening to something and then you try
to play it and something connects in you and it kind of stays, it kind of
chooses you rather than me choosing it, you know you’re just kind of messing
with it but to I feel like it chose me and I kind of blossomed within.
13.
What environment do you try to create in your
concerts?
I think a listening environment for sure I use to
play, at some points in my life I have played at rowdy bars or just drunken
cantina feel and I loved it but now I think that I try to connect yo know and
not only me connecting with the public or the audience but also vise versa.
Going back to that connection, recognition and reflecting back what they are
because at the end of the day the people that come to listen to the music that
we present or that I present see kind of a reflection of themselves in the
music even if they aren’t Mexican they don’t have to even understand what I am
saying but they feel drawn I think to this environment of I think peace
a.
Can you describe one of your favorite concert
experiences?
I
guess there are moments you know there are moments always on stage when
everything clicks and you feel like the song is going well the musicians we are
all connected the audience is engaged it’s almost like we are all holding hands
with our eyes closed not only on stage but also with the audience and it’s to
me it’s a very powerful sort of feeling you know when you know that everything
is clicking and everything is sounding perfectly.
14.
Besides public concerts, when do you perform?
I kind of changed, when I was younger I did I did
anything and everything and I was more outgoing and up for anything and I think
lately I’ve been trying to just limit a little bit of what I do because it’s to
me it’s such a beautiful moment to share that I just try to do it more when
everything is right. I guess sometimes I play at home without having to,
usually when I play it’s because I am rehearsing for something but sometimes I
do just you know sit with a drum and start singing or start playing with my jarana,
my guitar. And I’ve been meaning to do something else just being on stage at
night some sort of something else I have done a celebration circle or sometimes
at festivals I don’t know I think that I have been so focused right now on the
album that we’re trying to finish this record before the end of the year so
that has kind of been my focus just do the shows that I have my monthly Noche
Azul and focus on the record otherwise I get too (busy)…and also I also work
I’m a massage therapist too so I kind of try to be focused.
When is your album expected to come out? Started
recording in February and moved the date a couple of times just because we want
the best sound we can get so I’m not sure I think probably by the spring, no
later than that.
15.
How do you pick the songs that you are going to
perform?
Pretty much the same way that…I think once you, you
know how it is once you are…you sing a song you learn a song you sing it within
your living room at home you’re rehearsing it and then the song completely and
absolutely changes once you’re on stage. And I think that’s a really good
moment to realize what songs work in the sense that the song is actually good
for my range, I connect emotionally and spiritually to it and I’m a good
source…I’m a good bridge for it too. So I think once all of those things are
met that’s how I choose the song.
16.
Why did you choose to stay at Esperanza Peace
and justice Center?
I think it’s been a very interesting journey we
started with Noche Azul out of…I came up with the idea going through different
moments of history not only of Mexico, but of Latin American history and other
worldly moments that have been so important for the history of music or the
history of that country or the history in general. And I wanted to do it…I mean
I know how much it resonates with me history when it’s connected to music and I
realize that I am not the only one so I came up with this way of kind of
reintroducing different things and it has evolved or changed and moved in so
many ways now that I think that I decided to just follow that movement and to
stay to see what was going to happen with it and how it was going to evolve and
I think that I am still there.
17.
Can you play any other instruments besides the
jarana and the guitar?
18. I was looking through some of
the interviews that you have online, and I noticed that you mentioned a dancer
from Veracruz, and the jarana you play has its origins in Veracruz, is your
family from that area of Mexico?
No so actually my dad, he was a really interesting man
he was always in love with the culture from Veracruz and me growing up he
always said that he was from Veracruz and it wasn’t until not too long ago that
my mom told me you know that he was just saying that because he loved it right
he’s not from there, and I was just like really how come nobody told me that so
he had a really really deep love for the music and the culture and he was
friends with a lot of musicians that were amazing harp players, jarana players,
singers from Veracruz and we were always surrounded by them as well so I just
kind of thought, well I was a child I don’t know what I thought, but no my
father his side is from Tlatzcala and my mom’s side is from Jalisco.
19.
I also noticed that you enjoy mentioning the
history behind some of the songs that you are going to perform,
a.
How do you learn the history behind these songs
and genres?
For
me it’s a long process it’s…I go to depending on the theme. There are themes
that are so much more complex and difficult than others and others so clear, like
for example Frida Khalo no, the history of Frida Khalo is so well known to most
Latinos and to most people that are already interested in her that it’s easier
to just pick and choose the good documentaries or the good sources that we all
know that exist. There are some others that I go to that we know in Mexico that
are not part of the regular schools history program they’re more of the other
opinions kind of… valued opinions, so I usually go…if I don’t know what I am
doing I kind of go to trust the sources of history there have been many
historians in Mexico that I really really trust and they have beautiful,
usually for example for Juana I chose to go with books that were written about
her by Carlos Fuentes or by Motziby. I go to the very educated opinion about
things.
Multiple themes in mind?
I
have interests exactly and depending on what I find how I can kind of connect
it and what music I can connect it to they become one of the themes. If I don’t
find anything or I am kind of stuck them we go to a more general theme and it
kind of goes like that and it’s been a very honest way of doing it you know it
doesn’t feel forced.
b.
What is your favorite part of Mexican music
history?
I
think there is a very interesting part where, I mean it’s kind of sad too but
its also interesting. I guess there are two musically what came out of that
moment musically and then just interesting because so much came out of it. I
mean love some of the songs but it’s not absolutely the songs that I connect to
that it’s just a really interesting part of Mexican music the one I’m talking
about is when the golden cinema started to rise in Mexico and sort of like this
plan to create or recreate this Mexico not only on the screen but also in song
so these movies and songs were written to kind of bring out the best of mexico
and bring out this picturesque beautiful folkloric part of Mexico when the
reality was something else and was not really portrayed, the poverty all the
real things were not portrayed but some of those songs were really beautiful
and it kind of continued to recreate itself and these producing hands behind
the media were in charge of sort of molding some of the genres you know they
were in charge of who was going to be the next voice of Mexican music so that’s
how Lara came into the picture and all of these musicians that absolutely…the
music is so beautiful yes but none of it is really socially relevant. It’s all
about love, it’s all about how pretty you are or how broken hearted I am it
doesn’t really speak about the condition of the country where as in the
revolution which is just another one of my favorite moments you hear a lot of
corridos, a lot of rancheras where the song is actually sang by the protagonist
the person who is really going through…they just had to leave their pueblito
because you know they were taken out by the revolution or they honestly don’t
have anything to eat and the only thing they have is a song to sing or missing
their home and having to work for somebody else and the pain of being by themselves
in that part of Mexico, or usually they all went to Mexico city or a lot of
them went to Mexico city so the pain of being in this huge city not even
knowing who you are, what happened to your family, or what’s happening really
because they were in the middle of preparing for a revolution so that’s I guess
my both kind of favorite moments.
20.
You have different themed events each month at
the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, what have been some of your favorite
themes to discuss?
Maria Felix has been one of my most favorite, Frida
Khalo is always a pleasure to visit, gypsy romani people have been really
beautiful to honor sing some of those beautiful songs. Tangos have been
beautiful. Those are probably… of course there is a theme that there was a concert
once that music wise I really really liked and it was called something like
Indigenous songs from Mexico or something like that. It wasn’t as popular you
know but in my mind it was really pretty.
Song at UIW (La llorona in Zapoteco)
21.
How many songs have you composed, and what
aspects do you like to include in your own songs? When we discussed sound
characteristics do you try to do the same thing for your own songs?
I don’t know how many songs I don’t think I’ve ever
counted them probably more than thirty a lot of them don’t make it even out of
my comfort zone some of them do in different genres depending on what I am
doing of course. What I am doing with the song or what I’m kind of thinking to
do the song with. I co-wrote a song that has a lot of legend feel and old feel
and also a sort of evoking of love but not really like in a nostalgic kind of
way that’s one of the ones that I really like. There are some others that have
elements of South America like even kind of like a Peruvian sound I guess it
depends, it depends what I am listening to it kind of comes out that way.
There’s a song that I wrote that it sounds kind of gypsyish and it was at the
time that I was listening to a lot of gypsy music so it depends I think.
a.
What genre would you classify your own songs
under?
World
Music
22.
What are some of your favorite local musicians
and why?
I think I like Nina Diaz, Fea, Girl
in a Coma, Alvaro with whatever project he’s working on either with Los
Callejeros or with Pinata Protest. I really like, I love Sacred. I love pop
pistol too. The TEx maniacs, who doesn’t adore them. Um Flaco he’s more of an
international instead of local but I still kind of put him in the local scene.
There’s so many I love them all and I like them all and that’s just in the one
part in the jazz part I love what Aaron Prado is doing with his trio, I love
ben and joel cachi I don’t know I am pretty much in love with everything that
is kind of just happening in general.
What are you listening to right
now, what are some of your favorite artists that you regularly listen too?
There is a guy that I am absolutely
in love with Astrid he is the most beautiful I mean I don’t know I haven’t even
seen a photo of him because I don’t ever want to ruin that so quickly but just
listening to this voice and the sound that he creates to me is amazing his name
is he is a sado singer, interesting because most have been women it’s
interesting to hear this beautiful man doing beautiful… Antonio Zambujo that’s
his name. He’s Amazing!
