Speaker 1: Pushkin. Natalia la Forcade is a force as well here
Speaker 1: when she sings during our conversation today. She has a
Speaker 1: gorgeous voice, but she's also a deaft songwriter who's able
Speaker 1: to weave together traditions that feel both modern and old
Speaker 1: at once. And she's also a beautiful interpreter of song. Take,
Speaker 1: for instance, the phenomenon that was the song remember Me
Speaker 1: from Pixar's film Coco, or take the many instances where
Speaker 1: she's recorded some of the classic songs from across Latin America,
Speaker 1: performing songs by greats like Violet Tapada from Chile and
Speaker 1: Augustine Lata from Natalia's home state of Vera Cruz, Mexico.
Speaker 1: After spending the last seven years interpreting those masters, Natalia
Speaker 1: has released De TOAs Las Flores, her first album of
Speaker 1: originals since twenty fifteen. The songs are very much inspired
Speaker 1: by where she's at in life now, but you can
Speaker 1: hear her reverence for the classics still in these songs.
Speaker 1: When Italia came by leda Snag a Grammy a couple
Speaker 1: of months ago for her new album, I made a
Speaker 1: point of stopping by her label offices that Sony to
Speaker 1: have a chat with her. We discussed evolution of her
Speaker 1: artistry over the last twenty five years, the time a
Speaker 1: Hummingbird inspired her to move past the creative rut, and
Speaker 1: how the logistical challenges of recording her latest album to
Speaker 1: tape wound up creating an urgency that ultimately fueled the
Speaker 1: creative process. This is broken record liner notes for the
Speaker 1: digital Age. I'm Justin Ritchman. In continuation of our month
Speaker 1: long celebration of Women's History Month, here's my conversation with
Speaker 1: Natalia La Fricade. When did you start playing guitar?
Speaker 2: I started playing when I was fourteen years old, probably
Speaker 2: around that, very very little. I was very very little.
Speaker 1: Fourteen is actually when I you started playing? Yes, okay?
Speaker 2: And how come I.
Speaker 1: Wanted to join a band? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I didn't want to join a band. I didn't think
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: My mother and I moved in to another apartment that
Speaker 2: was my aunt, and in the closet there was this
Speaker 2: guitar like with only three strings, and I took it.
Speaker 2: I didn't know how to play, but I took it,
Speaker 2: and then I started writing songs with three strings. With
Speaker 2: strings I to remember, I think it was.
Speaker 1: Okay, the three top strings.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. So I started writing songs that I don't
Speaker 2: remember obviously, and then one day I told I said
Speaker 2: to my mother, I want to learn guitar. So I
Speaker 2: was having somebody helping me with the rest of the strings.
Speaker 2: And I had this boyfriend that was playing a lot
Speaker 2: of you Doo song. OK, so he was giving me
Speaker 2: those three chords of that are in many of the
Speaker 2: music and the songs, and that's how I started. Then
Speaker 2: I had my first guitar that was jammaha, very very
Speaker 2: hard to play it. It was metal strings for me
Speaker 2: that was really really hard. And then when I was sixteen,
Speaker 2: I went into the school and I said like, okay,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take real classes. So I was trying. Then
Speaker 2: I got something you know when you ah yeah, So
Speaker 2: I have to operate it. And it took a long
Speaker 2: time to go back to the guitar, and I was
Speaker 2: just learning myself by myself, you know, with my friends.
Speaker 2: I didn't have a teacher really in guitar. It was
Speaker 2: my friends telling me chords and ways.
Speaker 1: When you're guitar, did you have songs in your head
Speaker 1: that you wanted to sound like or artists that you
Speaker 1: wanted to sound like?
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, like I had those references of Brazilian
Speaker 2: music most of the time. You know. There was a
Speaker 2: friend in school that I remember, that's the first person
Speaker 2: I asked. I said, like, I'm trying to learn the
Speaker 2: chords of the guitar, but they're doing the whole finger
Speaker 2: for me is just too hard. I don't have the
Speaker 2: force my fingers are. They don't get used to this.
Speaker 2: Do you have any chords? It's a lot of from
Speaker 2: the intuition the way I play guitar. But I was
Speaker 2: asking this friend, do you have any chords that is
Speaker 2: easy to do? And it sounds very fancy, like very
Speaker 2: like wow, she knows very well what she's doing. So
Speaker 2: I want to I want to write songs, I said,
Speaker 2: But I don't want to go just to the those
Speaker 2: course that everyone uses, like just the minor on the
Speaker 2: major court. No, no, no, I want aha. I want this
Speaker 2: to sound like more interesting. So he was saying like,
Speaker 2: I'm going to give you some Brazilian course like from
Speaker 2: Bosanova and that music, so you can go and play this.
Speaker 2: It's going to be simple for you. And then he
Speaker 2: was showing me music Alyssis on my Little Regina Kaetanvelo
Speaker 2: so Gio Gilberto, those kind of musicians that I fall
Speaker 2: in love a lot of Brazilian music. So it became
Speaker 2: because of this, in a way, does Bosanova way or
Speaker 2: Brazilian way of playing became a very strong way for
Speaker 2: me to fine songs and music. He was giving me discords,
Speaker 2: you know, so he was saying like, if you play this,
Speaker 2: it's really easy and you can go. You can go
Speaker 2: from everywhere like in the guitar, and it's gonna be
Speaker 2: easy for your fingers. And then he was giving me
Speaker 2: like the So that was my first approach to writing songs.
Speaker 2: So I was writing like a song which is called Elephants,
Speaker 2: Elephants and ketto goos card conao los elephanto sab cato
Speaker 2: coming in Sabados. Isn't the laden Now that's possible. So
Speaker 2: that was really easy for me to do. But it
Speaker 2: sounded like wow. I remember the label saying like, oh,
Speaker 2: that song is really beautiful. But for me it was simple,
Speaker 2: more simple with my fingers and my strength.
Speaker 1: That was on your first record, right, yeah, yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 1: It did seem like there was a lot of those
Speaker 1: Basonova rhythms, like you would hear them every so often
Speaker 1: in the first I don't know, like and actually a
Speaker 1: lot of your music still.
Speaker 2: Still still even the last album going through very I mean,
Speaker 2: for me, folk music from Latino America has become a
Speaker 2: very important part of my inspiration and the way I
Speaker 2: write songs to find my own voice like that, that
Speaker 2: has been very important for me. But the Brazilian way,
Speaker 2: I don't know why. It keeps going through the songs
Speaker 2: in a way that I don't even know why, but
Speaker 2: it is there, like their songs in the last album
Speaker 2: that have that it's antio and I'm sorry, but but
Speaker 2: I have I have those two ways. I don't know,
Speaker 2: it's still there.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. Yeah, and you got to work with Gilberto
Speaker 1: Jill right yeah.
Speaker 2: But long long ago, you know that was for that
Speaker 2: wasna like singing those beautiful songs by Augustina la Farolito.
Speaker 2: It's beautiful and also like I was singing, I don't
Speaker 2: remember the song that I that I interpreted in the
Speaker 2: person when he was Person of the Year at Latin
Speaker 2: Grammy long ago, like twenty years ago or something like that.
Speaker 2: I was very little.
Speaker 1: You performed the song of Latin Grammy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was for him, like he was
Speaker 2: there for me. It was like dream because I admire
Speaker 2: him so much, and then they were asking me to
Speaker 2: go there and play for him, so it was really beautiful.
Speaker 1: How did you get to get him on your record?
Speaker 2: And then for Moher Divina, we got in touch with
Speaker 2: his team and he was open to do that. He
Speaker 2: knew about me. I was impressed by that because obviously
Speaker 2: I thought, of course he's not gonna remember, and that's
Speaker 2: fine because he's Jilbert to Jill. But there was this
Speaker 2: concert in Mexico City and I went there with my
Speaker 2: friend Queso, which is also one of the persons that
Speaker 2: was teaching me a lot of Brasilian music, and we
Speaker 2: went to this concert and then I get to say
Speaker 2: hello to Gilbert and he was like, hey, you know,
Speaker 2: how are you. I can't believe he remains my name.
Speaker 2: He knows my name. And then years after that, he
Speaker 2: was willing to do the song with me.
Speaker 1: Were you in the studio with them or did you know?
Speaker 2: Really that was ah, that was in the distance. I
Speaker 2: hope it was like that. Yeah, yeah, m m man.
Speaker 1: I was hoping you got to be in the studio
Speaker 1: with them.
Speaker 2: Imagine that. Yeah, And then years later I got to
Speaker 2: do the same Person of the Year and sing for
Speaker 2: Kaetano Veloso. So that was also for me, like I can.
Speaker 2: It was librous and yeah, I was able to sing
Speaker 2: to him as well. I think they both are a
Speaker 2: dream for me, you know, like to get to to
Speaker 2: play together. It might be possible.
Speaker 1: Who knows, I would love that it. So Brazilian music
Speaker 1: was like kind of the first maybe besides pop music.
Speaker 1: It was the first like music that you really dove
Speaker 1: into many.
Speaker 2: Many different changes and types of music. Really, you know.
Speaker 2: I remember the first album that I bought with my
Speaker 2: money was the debut album by Bjork and Those Mama's
Speaker 2: Gone by Erica Vadu, Jammy Kwuai with Traveling Without Moving,
Speaker 2: those kind of albums. That was the music I listened.
Speaker 2: And I was young and starting to have my own
Speaker 2: taste in music, you know, like when you're like I
Speaker 2: am listening to this and my headphones and I like it,
Speaker 2: and I don't care if nobody else is liking this music.
Speaker 2: I feel connected to do this for some reason because
Speaker 2: I didn't understand the words and the lyrics on those songs.
Speaker 2: I was just a music connection to those musics. My
Speaker 2: parents are musicians and the music I was listening at
Speaker 2: home with mainly classical music, sometimes poletros that my mother
Speaker 2: liked a lot, many different changes of music, jo Letta Bara,
Speaker 2: those kinds of music. So then I started listening to
Speaker 2: new things in the school. I remember the first time
Speaker 2: I heard Billie Holiday and I was like, wow, this
Speaker 2: is totally another thing, like I love this, And then
Speaker 2: I went through Elaficierro, Nina Simon. I was listening to
Speaker 2: Johnny Mitchell. I remember, like that cassette of Blue that
Speaker 2: my friend gave me, and I was like, oh, I
Speaker 2: can't believe this. This is really Tori Amos, PG Harvey,
Speaker 2: you know Apple. I was getting into those kind of
Speaker 2: things by my friends showing me that music because that
Speaker 2: wasn't in my background from my childhood or nowhere really
Speaker 2: radio Head, I don't know, I was listening to that.
Speaker 2: It has been changing. Then I was more curious about like,
Speaker 2: wait a minute, I want to hear what's in Mexico,
Speaker 2: what's in my country?
Speaker 1: When did that happen? Because it seems at some point
Speaker 1: and maybe around Moorhead, that that's when that happened.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I was left in that for one
Speaker 2: year almost and I was very close to say I'm
Speaker 2: not going back to Mexico. And it was the time
Speaker 2: I was not having a good moment in terms of
Speaker 2: my career, like I didn't know what I really wanted
Speaker 2: to do. For a moment, I was like, I don't
Speaker 2: want to do this anymore. This is not for me.
Speaker 2: What caused that, I think it was that I was
Speaker 2: very young. I was eighteen when I released my first album,
Speaker 2: and then everything happened fast, and for me, it was
Speaker 2: just too much information. And then I decided to have
Speaker 2: a band, and that was for me a lot, you know,
Speaker 2: because I had so many things that I wanted to
Speaker 2: explore in music. But then it seemed that everything was
Speaker 2: already taken by everyone around me. You know, it wasn't
Speaker 2: my decisions or it wasn't the way I wanted to be.
Speaker 2: But I was doing that for so long that I
Speaker 2: got very far, you know, from knowing what I wanted
Speaker 2: and how I wanted the music to sound. Like for me,
Speaker 2: it was like I need to go far, far from home,
Speaker 2: and I need to go to a place where nobody
Speaker 2: will know my name and I don't know how to
Speaker 2: speak that language, and I will need to learn and
Speaker 2: I will be free. It will be my time and
Speaker 2: no more music. But I ended up because of my
Speaker 2: friends in the house full of musicians and they were
Speaker 2: playing a lot of blues.
Speaker 1: This is in Canada.
Speaker 2: This is in Canada. So I got to listen to
Speaker 2: all the genes in music and to be surrendered by
Speaker 2: that vibe, you know, of a lot of musicians around me,
Speaker 2: and that was beautiful for me. It helped me to
Speaker 2: go back into music. And then I was writing. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: but I stopped the music for like three months or
Speaker 2: something like that. I wasn't playing anything. There was piano, guitars,
Speaker 2: any instrument, drums, anything, and I didn't touch anything. I
Speaker 2: was just like trying to recover my soul. I think
Speaker 2: it was the thing of the soul and the heart.
Speaker 2: And then there was one day I sat on the
Speaker 2: piano and I started playing this instrumental album which is
Speaker 2: called The Four Seasons of Love that it isn't even
Speaker 2: in Spotify. It was just for a period of time there,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna put it there. But that was the music
Speaker 2: that was coming. Has not lyrics but alwa, it's just music.
Speaker 2: So that was yes, I did, but it was the
Speaker 2: only album that I own my master But I was
Speaker 2: telling the label in Mexico because they, of course imagine
Speaker 2: I was solo artists. But then I say like, I
Speaker 2: want a band, and they were like, but how a
Speaker 2: band like your solo artist? No, no, no, I want
Speaker 2: my band. And then I said like, no, I don't
Speaker 2: want anything. I'm going to Canada. And then I go
Speaker 2: back to Mexico and I'm like, okay, I'm going to
Speaker 2: release an album, but there's no voice in the album.
Speaker 2: So the label is like, what what do you expect
Speaker 2: us to do with an album that doesn't have your voice?
Speaker 2: So I was like, I don't know, but I'm going
Speaker 2: to release those music. So for them it was like, okay,
Speaker 2: you do it and it's yours. You can do whatever
Speaker 2: you want with that music. And then I was doing
Speaker 2: my album back with my songs, so that was really
Speaker 2: good for me to go back to the songwriting. But
Speaker 2: at that moment, I realized that there was something missing
Speaker 2: to connect to people. I was connecting in a way,
Speaker 2: but not the way I wanted to connect. You know,
Speaker 2: I want to tell you I just wanted to have
Speaker 2: something more how would you say it? To very simple
Speaker 2: language through music that connects to people's feelings and.
Speaker 1: Make it release plain and simple note not complicated, because
Speaker 1: you have some lyrics that I mean, you know, almost
Speaker 1: like I want to compare to like it's all right
Speaker 1: mom only bleeding Bob Dylan, where it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's fast and like the words are quick. Yeah, a
Speaker 1: lot of.
Speaker 2: Verses yeah ahah, that's right, and.
Speaker 1: A lot of references sometimes to pop culture.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I really wanted to make it pretty but
Speaker 2: simple quotio like just everyday language but poetry and something beautiful.
Speaker 2: But I felt like I need to learn I need
Speaker 2: to learn more about songwriting. So I was still louder.
Speaker 2: For me, it was like, Okay, this guy really has
Speaker 2: amazing music. It sounded so like Mexico, so like Vera Gruz.
Speaker 2: I don't know, I just fell in love so much
Speaker 2: with his music.
Speaker 1: Had you really listened to it before? I bet you
Speaker 1: heard it, but.
Speaker 2: Yes, because it's very famous songs from Augustine Lada, but
Speaker 2: not consciously about it, you know, like not really paying
Speaker 2: attention to the chords to music the way he moved
Speaker 2: through the music.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: And I was trying to learn that on my guitar
Speaker 2: and I was like, wow, this is really a hard thing,
Speaker 2: Like it wasn't easy, you know, for me, but I
Speaker 2: learned a lot from his music, and then I was like, okay,
Speaker 2: I got to listen to Tonya la negra, you know,
Speaker 2: singing better, a tropical singing asul, those songs that for
Speaker 2: me sounded like listening to Eta James or like those
Speaker 2: beautiful music and standards that I heard in English before.
Speaker 2: But it was Spanish, and it was boletos and it
Speaker 2: was tango, and there was many dangers there that I
Speaker 2: would live. I can do this in Spanish. And then
Speaker 2: I just started like searching for more composers, great music
Speaker 2: and Spanish.
Speaker 1: Could you do a little bit of your version of
Speaker 1: Vera Cruz Acristinados. I think it's credited to his sister, but.
Speaker 2: You know, I see Colologne platu, you see pirata Nacio rumba,
Speaker 2: Vera's in vera Cruz, something like that, Vera Cruz ring
Speaker 2: consito dias and suniola soulas the it's a little loud
Speaker 2: Vera Cruz spellasi to the bartria kesavi so fri conta
Speaker 2: vera Cruz so to s notches Elu you're the straight Yes,
Speaker 2: PALMERI mo vera Cruz. Mm hmm, all Wanda tattoos, players
Speaker 2: like Hanna Standrekable something like that. It's beautiful, it's very passionate.
Speaker 2: That to you a s colon Plata. So it's more like,
Speaker 2: but I don't know, it's it's so the way we
Speaker 2: are in Mexico.
Speaker 1: So ah like that, right, especially maybe even more so
Speaker 1: in Vera Cruz right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, And I don't know, Like I
Speaker 2: really felt like I want to learn to do this.
Speaker 2: I want to learn to sing this music and and
Speaker 2: write this way in my way, in my universe and
Speaker 2: my approach, my own approach. I got really inspired by
Speaker 2: that music. And then I was able to listen to
Speaker 2: other composers that really affect me in a way, Like
Speaker 2: I was able to go back to Bile, go back
Speaker 2: to Simon DIA's like this, great composers from Venezuela. It
Speaker 2: helped me a lot to find my own way.
Speaker 1: We have to take a quick break and then we'll
Speaker 1: be back with more from a conversation with Natalia la Fricade.
Speaker 1: We're back with Nata Alla. Could I ask you also
Speaker 1: because Fioletta part is one of my favorite and one
Speaker 1: of my favorite songs from her. You did a version
Speaker 1: of always been one of my favorites is Kado.
Speaker 4: Let's see if you can remember the most beautiful lyrics.
Speaker 2: H Okay, that's somethime case coll okayllos those made almost
Speaker 2: who to your your cause, cola, no many of your
Speaker 2: dumbellows in the mood or something like that, call a
Speaker 2: comb Colando your came your to and estimoon your your
Speaker 2: Oh you case your yr Yo, plan amuson and bot
Speaker 2: your your your world? Look up plan your yard, your
Speaker 2: rodos are you or a Telenoto cas.
Speaker 1: Your your.
Speaker 2: Something like that. I don't remember the lyrics instead of
Speaker 2: gonna and chile.
Speaker 1: Everyone listening, I feel I should look up the lyrics
Speaker 1: that it's the most beautiful song maybe ever know, one
Speaker 1: of the greatest.
Speaker 2: She has so many, but yeah, for me, I don't know.
Speaker 2: It was really beautiful to have this approach to those
Speaker 2: musics and not so easy, not so easy to sing.
Speaker 2: But I'm still learning.
Speaker 1: So going back and listening to that music and learning
Speaker 1: to play it and learning to sing it, it seems like
Speaker 1: that also it changed your songwriting.
Speaker 2: Maybe yeah, of course I realized that when I listened
Speaker 2: to the last album that I made, and it's probably
Speaker 2: the most personal album that I have, and I think
Speaker 2: in every song there is very clear the influences that
Speaker 2: I have been able to explore through the years. There
Speaker 2: is this incredible composer from Venezuela. I love his music
Speaker 2: as his name is Simondas. Maybe you know him. When
Speaker 2: I heard him the first time, I would like, this
Speaker 2: is incredible music, so magic and the metaphors through the lyrics,
Speaker 2: and he uses a lot nature as an inspiration and
Speaker 2: for me, I felt so connected because the place I live,
Speaker 2: which is better Cruise, I love it so much because
Speaker 2: of the weather and the nature around the earth. So
Speaker 2: I was learning the very very first song that I
Speaker 2: learned by him, This is your video commadres Yes Samoa
Speaker 2: two kaso me video alone only combationdreos Yes commos as
Speaker 2: us Commo Samoa to Korazon conning meo too koa zoono
Speaker 2: so so beautiful. Yeah, and I can see how music
Speaker 2: has impact. Then maybe a song like Parto, which is
Speaker 2: the song from my favorite you like Pararido You know
Speaker 2: things me om Cagas, Beertos, Bara surfle Is, Condo sce
Speaker 2: and skin Finitor Moon Siri Salas. Then through the to
Speaker 2: Beru Pardos Elelientola Gabola. It's in the SETI casin Sindelf
Speaker 2: and two movie Me and to Be the Universo and
Speaker 2: two certain told Serbian gianno Sarbian?
Speaker 3: Do you.
Speaker 2: Baraself? Philly? So it reminds me to those musics.
Speaker 1: How did you start that song humming Bird in English?
Speaker 2: The Huming Bird? I was in this beautiful place that
Speaker 2: my friend Gail has in Bera Gruz was her mother's
Speaker 2: farm and Rossillo. I actually have a song that I
Speaker 2: wrote for Rossio, the Tolos campus. And this friend, she's
Speaker 2: not physically anymore here, but she's part of my life
Speaker 2: and she's a very important person for what I do.
Speaker 2: Like she was in credible artist, and in this place,
Speaker 2: I was recovering myself for something. I don't know what
Speaker 2: that was. I think we all have moments when you
Speaker 2: just feel like your heart is broken for things that
Speaker 2: happen in life. But then everything goes so fast and
Speaker 2: you don't get to really like connect to when you
Speaker 2: feel there's pain that you need to see and pay
Speaker 2: attention to, you know. So I was recovering myself from that,
Speaker 2: and I decided to go there for a month. I
Speaker 2: went there with my friend Alan, and we were trying
Speaker 2: to see if there was music coming or not. That
Speaker 2: was for another project that I was working on. But
Speaker 2: he said like, don't worry, I'll be around. You don't
Speaker 2: feel any pressure, Like I'll be around and you feel
Speaker 2: like you want to come and record, will do it.
Speaker 2: If not, don't worry. And then I was in the
Speaker 2: room one day and I remember that I was inside
Speaker 2: the room for many days, not being able to do much,
Speaker 2: just sleep or read or just be there. And I
Speaker 2: remember there was this coming bird coming every day like
Speaker 2: doing thus and the window, and I was like, how
Speaker 2: come a homing bird could come to a window go
Speaker 2: to a tree, like, don't come to the window or
Speaker 2: the door, like there's nothing here. But symbolically, I felt
Speaker 2: like this bird was calling to me and it made
Speaker 2: me feel like it was the spirit of Rossillo saying
Speaker 2: like come on, go outside, go for a walk, or
Speaker 2: come on, there's life out there, like you're in the bed,
Speaker 2: please like come out. So there was a day I
Speaker 2: was just like, Okay, I think I'm gonna go for
Speaker 2: a walk, and then I started like having mourning walks
Speaker 2: into the forest and then I just this melody came
Speaker 2: to my mind, like I was singing this, and then
Speaker 2: I went to the room and I only had a harana,
Speaker 2: which is this instrument for so and I was playing
Speaker 2: on that instrument the melody and it came like that.
Speaker 2: But I didn't pay so much attention to this song,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe because the way I was feeling for
Speaker 2: me was just a basic lyric, everything is gonna be fine, Humimbert.
Speaker 2: I had that Homemembert in my mind and my heart,
Speaker 2: so I didn't pay so much attention to the song
Speaker 2: until I was working with the producer of the album
Speaker 2: and I show him this song and he said like,
Speaker 2: do you like this one? And I was like not
Speaker 2: really so much as normal, I said like, we need
Speaker 2: to record that song in the album. So that's why
Speaker 2: I love producers because they help. So that's how it came.
Speaker 1: And the producer on your newest record, the last Florist,
Speaker 1: is Adan Horoski. That's right, his son.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: How did you become friends with him?
Speaker 2: When I was working the tribute to Augustine Larra years ago,
Speaker 2: I was asking Nadan to come and sing one of
Speaker 2: the songs on the album, and then we became friends,
Speaker 2: very close, very close to each other. We love each
Speaker 2: other a lot, and then for many years we were
Speaker 2: saying like, let's collaborate, let's do something together. And twenty
Speaker 2: twenty I realized I really needed to go into the
Speaker 2: studio and record my music. And I was asking him
Speaker 2: would you be okay to be the producer?
Speaker 1: And he was like, of course, what made you think
Speaker 1: he was the one for this record?
Speaker 2: You know? It was just a feeling in my belly.
Speaker 2: I don't know. Sometimes I moved from my belly feelings.
Speaker 1: From your belly to your mouth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I just felt that because actually my managers
Speaker 2: were saying like why Adan, and I was like, I mean,
Speaker 2: he's my friend. I had other albums that we were
Speaker 2: working on, Canto Mexico, Mussas. Those were albums that made
Speaker 2: me connect a lot with traditional music from Mexico and
Speaker 2: Latin America. There were many people around those and it
Speaker 2: was good and I really enjoyed the process of those records.
Speaker 2: But I felt like I just went to stay with
Speaker 2: my friend and hang out with him and used to
Speaker 2: be silenced in the studio. Nobody else. I asked everyone
Speaker 2: not to come like the label, my husband, my managers,
Speaker 2: I was with Rossio only the two of us and
Speaker 2: the band with the producer Adan and also the beautiful
Speaker 2: band that I that I had this brand.
Speaker 1: It's incredible Mark Rebow with everyone including Tom Waite, and
Speaker 1: just incredible.
Speaker 2: We love him, yeah or huge fans, right, amazing, especially
Speaker 2: if we play guitar.
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially we play I mean guitarist.
Speaker 2: Just he's He's crazy.
Speaker 1: What was it like meeting him and playing with him?
Speaker 2: It was amazing. I mean I just want my life
Speaker 2: to be like that all the time.
Speaker 1: Like you guys look in Texas too, write like some
Speaker 1: where were you.
Speaker 2: In Sonic Ranch which is in the middle of the
Speaker 2: desert and Ranch of the Nest. It's beautiful there and
Speaker 2: Tony Ranch has this amazing studio, many studios, sir. And
Speaker 2: then the producer was listening to the songs. It was
Speaker 2: one year and also because of the pandemic, we were
Speaker 2: taking it very slow, no pressure, and I was sending
Speaker 2: the music and the one day he was like, I
Speaker 2: think Mark, we would come and record on your album.
Speaker 2: And I was like, that's really far from us, Like
Speaker 2: how how are we going to make this true? But
Speaker 2: Adan is really magic. He's like, let's call him. Let's
Speaker 2: just give a call.
Speaker 1: I can only imagine what a dance like based on
Speaker 1: his dad's films, you know, like I can only imagine
Speaker 1: that lineage.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, people, I know you know when I was
Speaker 2: I was mixing the album in parties with Adan. Then
Speaker 2: he invited me to Alejandro's house to just have a coffee.
Speaker 2: And I didn't want to ask for anything else but that,
Speaker 2: you know, like it was your normal Sunday, just let's
Speaker 2: have a coffee and cookies and talk. But then he
Speaker 2: was telling me like I'm going to read you tat
Speaker 2: to you and like okay, okay.
Speaker 1: So it was so he's got to be out of control.
Speaker 2: Right, yes, and the best way they they are the best.
Speaker 2: It's really inspiring to be close to them. And there
Speaker 2: was the reason I also wanted to work with that,
Speaker 2: you know. I wanted to be close to him and
Speaker 2: his magic and mystic I wanted.
Speaker 1: To have that.
Speaker 2: And then we have beautiful people in the band, like Mark,
Speaker 2: not just Mark Ribbot, I mean Cyril on the drums,
Speaker 2: Sebastian on the base.
Speaker 1: From your it was like your dad's piano student or
Speaker 1: harpsichord student.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not really like that close. They became friends. Really.
Speaker 2: The funniest thing is that. Emiliano Dorantez is my neighbor. Right,
Speaker 2: he lives very close from where I live, but I
Speaker 2: mean in the middle of nowhere. And then during the pandemic,
Speaker 2: there was a moment we oh everywhere right, like place
Speaker 2: I want to see another human being. And we were
Speaker 2: doing this Wednesday of the week movies in the forest
Speaker 2: in the jungle, you know, in the Yeah, so we
Speaker 2: put like a blanket or something like that, and we
Speaker 2: were doing the movie theater there and then Emiliana was
Speaker 2: coming and we became friends because of that because we
Speaker 2: were chatting. And then I was like, hey, would you
Speaker 2: come to the house and give me some piano lessons
Speaker 2: maybe because I am free, I have time, And then
Speaker 2: he was coming, and then one day I was showing
Speaker 2: him some of the songs that I was writing, and
Speaker 2: then he was trying to play those and on the
Speaker 2: piano he plays so beautiful, incredible, He's genius and he's
Speaker 2: just sensitive. Yeah, it's really amazing and yeah, so he
Speaker 2: ended up recording the music and on the album. And
Speaker 2: I remember Mark Rieb was the first day they had
Speaker 2: like this moment of musicians, you know, like make was
Speaker 2: saying like, oh, you're playing those classical, beautiful piece and that,
Speaker 2: and then Emiliana was saying like, no, I'm just writing
Speaker 2: this at the moment, I'm just playing this. I am improvising.
Speaker 2: And Mark was like everyone were like, wow, this kid
Speaker 2: has something special. And then he's like, give me a
Speaker 2: note and I'm going to play a card and then
Speaker 2: you give me another note. And they were just giving
Speaker 2: crazy notes that will crash between each other so to
Speaker 2: make it really difficult for him. But then he was
Speaker 2: doing like a whole area or something like that, like
Speaker 2: peace out of that. He was playing ten minutes non
Speaker 2: stop from what the notes that they were giving to him.
Speaker 2: So then Mark Rivet and Sebastian they were just like, Okay,
Speaker 2: we're ready to go. Like there's not gonna be any
Speaker 2: problems with this kid because he's like twenty right or
Speaker 2: something one right now. I think, Yeah, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of like those magic moments in the process of the album,
Speaker 2: which I love. I think it's important to have that
Speaker 2: kind of connections.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful that you cut it to tape too and
Speaker 1: not digital.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and also Adan came with that idea. I always
Speaker 2: wanted to record that way. Then I found out that
Speaker 2: for producers or engineers. Sometimes it was like, Okay, this
Speaker 2: is going to be more difficult, and then I just
Speaker 2: didn't dream about it anymore. But with that Dan were like, yes,
Speaker 2: let's do it, let's try.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and no metronomes too, write like no click, no metronome.
Speaker 2: No metronomo, no click, no bait. But the hardbat It
Speaker 2: was the first time I was doing it this way.
Speaker 2: It was beautiful because Adan didn't want us to rehearsal
Speaker 2: that much the music. Actually, he asked me not to
Speaker 2: prepare any demo, which I didn't. I did like three
Speaker 2: four demos of the songs. I wanted to have the
Speaker 2: brass section because I just went to see it would
Speaker 2: work or not. But the other songs, he was playing
Speaker 2: that music from the message on my phone, which was
Speaker 2: right the moment what I wrote the song, and then
Speaker 2: from that we were saying like, okay, this could be
Speaker 2: an intro, so you, Emiliana, can improvise something here that
Speaker 2: would be like close to this, And then hear you
Speaker 2: mark you're going to start here, and then.
Speaker 1: We were.
Speaker 2: Ill say, like making the construction of the arrangement at
Speaker 2: the moment while listening only my boys and the guitar,
Speaker 2: trying to grab the feelings, you know. So there were
Speaker 2: moments when we were really connecting, and there were moments
Speaker 2: that were more like a mess, like no, this is
Speaker 2: not the right way, no, no, no, please take that
Speaker 2: distortion out of the guitar, we're saying to Margaret. But
Speaker 2: they were like, wow, I like this. But then Alaan
Speaker 2: was like, no, no, this is not the song for this.
Speaker 2: And then you were like, okay, I'm gonna change. I mean,
Speaker 2: he has so many instruments around and I don't know.
Speaker 2: We were just trying things and playing. I love to
Speaker 2: do that, and yeah, the songs and the music started
Speaker 2: to come to show its own spirit and we were like, okay,
Speaker 2: this was really beautiful, Like let's leave it like this.
Speaker 2: And the good thing was that Emiliano has a really
Speaker 2: good memory. He was the only one maybe that really
Speaker 2: know the chords and the harmonies of the song. So
Speaker 2: he was ready to be there for the other ones
Speaker 2: saying like no, it's not this cord, it's just one,
Speaker 2: or let's go from this place to this place. But
Speaker 2: he was the guy in the room that had all
Speaker 2: that information because we were already playing the music in Bacruz.
Speaker 1: So he was more like a bit more. Yeah, all
Speaker 1: those elements I think add up the record is so
Speaker 1: it sounds like so free and beautiful, and it just
Speaker 1: goes so many different directions. There's just some beautiful arrangements
Speaker 1: and beautiful songs.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you, really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have to pause for one last quick break
Speaker 1: and then we'll be back with more from Natalia la Forcade.
Speaker 1: We're back with the rest of my conversation with Natalia
Speaker 1: la Forcade. There's not a lot of artists that if
Speaker 1: you listen to the first record through the most recent
Speaker 1: record and been doing it twenty four years about they
Speaker 1: all get better, you know, and to where like this
Speaker 1: one's like the best one. That's just an incredible feat.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think it's really hard to reinvent. I don't
Speaker 2: know if that's what exists in English, to explore what
Speaker 2: is new for your universe some musician, songwriter or artists human.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a lot of search and for me,
Speaker 2: this album is a master Like it has taught me
Speaker 2: so many important things that I want to keep close,
Speaker 2: you know, even ten years in the future, twenty years,
Speaker 2: Like I don't want to forget the things that I've
Speaker 2: learned through this process because I think it's very important
Speaker 2: to keep trying to do this work. You know, like
Speaker 2: this album made me sit down even on the stage,
Speaker 2: Like I felt like this album was saying, I don't
Speaker 2: want you to move during the concert. I just want
Speaker 2: you to play and sing and you will sit down
Speaker 2: andrics No, just bring it all from that point and
Speaker 2: be very calm and everything. I was actually thinking about
Speaker 2: this interview right now. I think like this could have
Speaker 2: happened like one youg or two when I was releasing
Speaker 2: the album, right, but things like this moment has happened,
Speaker 2: Like this album has given to me beautiful moments. But
Speaker 2: it's like in the time of this album, not the
Speaker 2: time that I want your time, Yeah, not my time.
Speaker 2: And I found that beautiful because I've learned that not
Speaker 2: always you might have the control of what you're doing
Speaker 2: and the music and the way it flows.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad, thank you so much for the for
Speaker 1: the album. It's beautiful, all the music. And I'm glad
Speaker 1: also it's been recognized. I mean, you're here because you're
Speaker 1: for a Grammy Award. Yeah, it's beautiful that it's getting
Speaker 1: the credit it deserves.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I feel happy. I feel happy for that,
Speaker 2: you know. I mean, you're not thinking about this recognition
Speaker 2: while you're doing the thing, you know. But it was
Speaker 2: hard moments when we took the machine to better a
Speaker 2: cruise that was crazy, you know. We took the machine
Speaker 2: to my studio once and then I got COVID. They
Speaker 2: had to take it back to Mexico City and then
Speaker 2: bring it back again to my studio. Yeah, tap machine machine. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they were taking the machine to my house and everyone
Speaker 2: were there, the cordo strings, everyone, but the machine wasn't good.
Speaker 2: It was damaged for a reason. And then it was
Speaker 2: two days of like, let's find those little piece that
Speaker 2: we needed to fix it. And I don't know, like
Speaker 2: there were funny moments like that, and the recording process
Speaker 2: of the album, it's very unknown secum cities in English
Speaker 2: handmade when you try to record like that. I mean,
Speaker 2: I am not like the Beatles. They had so much
Speaker 2: money they could buy seventy tapes or even more to
Speaker 2: record an album, but for us it was just like
Speaker 2: fifteen or maybe less, just twenty minutes for every track,
Speaker 2: twenty four tracks?
Speaker 1: Would you record like this again?
Speaker 2: Of course that's the way I want to record the most. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean it's okay. It depends on the project, I think,
Speaker 2: but I really loved it.
Speaker 1: Are you writing always?
Speaker 2: Not always? Recently I've been writing. Last week I was
Speaker 2: doing some music for a TV show that somebody asked,
Speaker 2: and I was writing a song that is called cancer.
Speaker 2: But not always, you know, for I am not very
Speaker 2: disciplined as a writer.
Speaker 1: Do you find myself say? I mean, I like you
Speaker 1: take your time? No, you know.
Speaker 2: There's moments, yeah, months and I do nothing, and then
Speaker 2: there's one day and I got inspired. I think this
Speaker 2: moment in my life, I feel very inspired. But that
Speaker 2: doesn't happen always for me.
Speaker 1: I hope we get more music than soon.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, me too, me too, me too. I ask
Speaker 2: for that. I asked the music it's too good.
Speaker 1: Could you play one more song?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe?
Speaker 2: Uh ah, okay, pause and lusias phusy open sound paso
Speaker 2: melo brand stand up, so canstrom no off sent barasernos
Speaker 2: ris basar la vida is silu bensanzuke daniamostovo, Parasernos, dantovin
Speaker 2: kela this, Daciano, the Street Kills, Basi construi Le lucio,
Speaker 2: the e man comgupara traspinal the sta mundo dam basil
Speaker 2: me on the agla Allen God talk Allen contain treloso
Speaker 2: telosup plico no lolvives fo Pazlosias is sigop and Sandu
Speaker 2: and thing baslasonas nomlges Brandistan of Suru, Machina nustromo no
Speaker 2: sufficient the parasernus tgri Santasalavia is sigupen santo ke Dan
Speaker 2: almost all the parasstantovin gelais dance Yeah, no podriya the
Speaker 2: street a girl sparso comes true even lush so locate cat.
Speaker 2: You're soo look over a sa and you see who
Speaker 2: Neiverso Loco Mirarte, Kriser yellows Dancia Marte so lo keero
Speaker 2: get You're so Luke Obrasteste Universo Loco Mirarte crasser je
Speaker 2: laddistance your man so lokro GeTe you're aso Loker obrasad
Speaker 2: and stiverso local Mirrarte crass Jeerladistancia Marty so look ok.
Speaker 2: You're also look obra side and stay woo versal Loco
Speaker 2: Mirart crac jealis dancer am ahama and ladis Stancia.
Speaker 3: Amte I play it in a different tone. It's not.
Speaker 1: It was gorgeous.
Speaker 3: It was gorgeous.
Speaker 1: It was gorgeous, beautiful where it goes.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, appreciate taking the time, Thank you,
Speaker 2: thank you so much. It's my pleasure. Thank you for
Speaker 2: having me.
Speaker 1: Of course, hope we do it again, maybe in Mexico.
Speaker 2: Yes, please, Imberra Gruz.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Natalia la Fricade for playing and singing for us.
Speaker 1: You can hear her latest album They Told Us Us
Speaker 1: Floored Us and all of our favorite songs from Natalia,
Speaker 1: along with some of these songs mentioned in this conversation
Speaker 1: on a playlist at broken Record podcast dot com. Subscribe
Speaker 1: to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash broken
Speaker 1: Record Podcast, where you can find all of our new episodes.
Speaker 1: You can follow us on Twitter at broken Record. Broken
Speaker 1: Record is produced and edited by Leah Rose, with marketing
Speaker 1: help from Eric Sandler and Jordan McMillan. Our engineer is
Speaker 1: Ben Tolliney. Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries.
Speaker 1: If you love this show and others from Pushkin, consider
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Speaker 1: by Kenny Beats. I'm justin Richmond.