(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CANCIONERA")
NATALIA LAFOURCADE: (Singing) Cancionera.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Natalia Lafourcade is a singer-songwriter in Mexico, with a huge fan base on both sides of the border. Her new album is called "Cancionera," which literally means songstress.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CANCIONERA")
LAFOURCADE: (Singing in Spanish).
SHAPIRO: She told me that, to her, the word cancionera has deeper meanings.
LAFOURCADE: Cancionera came to say you can really do whatever you want. Let yourself be true. Sing your true - sing your freedom.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CANCIONERA")
LAFOURCADE: (Singing in Spanish).
SHAPIRO: Natalia Lafourcade has released about a dozen albums and EPs in the last couple decades, but she did something special with this one - she gathered all the musicians in a room together and recorded the songs in one long session on analog tape.
LAFOURCADE: And actually, this is miracle. It's an act of fate, and let's go all together. And there will be mistakes, and there will be things that might come. But as long as we all are connected, it will be a collective creation.
SHAPIRO: "Cancionera" plays tribute to her roots in traditional Mexican music, especially son jarocho, the musical style of her home state of Veracruz. There are original songs and also some old folk tunes reimagined.
There is an old song on this album that you rewrote some lyrics for - "La Bruja," the witch.
LAFOURCADE: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: And originally, the lyrics are about, she turned me into a pumpkin. And your lyrics say, she filled me with flowers.
LAFOURCADE: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LA BRUJA")
LAFOURCADE: (Singing in Spanish).
SHAPIRO: And I feel like that term bruja - witch, sorceress - is something that people today maybe own in a way that earlier generations might have been afraid to.
LAFOURCADE: Yes.
SHAPIRO: Can you tell me about your relationship to this?
LAFOURCADE: Yes. I wanted to bring la bruja to the context of cancionera universe. You know...
SHAPIRO: Ah.
LAFOURCADE: ...I think cancionera...
SHAPIRO: Like, a cancionera is a kind of a sorceress, a kind of a witch. You're casting a spell - is that what you mean?
LAFOURCADE: Yeah. You know, because I have noticed that I am a very mystic person - I must...
SHAPIRO: I got...
LAFOURCADE: ...Confess.
SHAPIRO: ...That impression (laughter).
LAFOURCADE: And - I don't know - I am super energetic, you know? And music can give you that feeling of, wow, something is happening right now, so just let go your mind. Let go your judgment or whatever you're doing. But if you're creating something - if you're dancing, if you're painting, writing, if you're playing an instrument, music - you turn off that part of your being so you can let - something else comes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LA BRUJA")
LAFOURCADE: (Singing in Spanish).
SHAPIRO: You have talked about music as building a bridge, connecting people and cultures and experiences. And it feels like the moment we are living in is defined more by walls than by bridges. And so how do you see your role as an artist - specifically, as a Mexican artist with a huge U.S. following...
LAFOURCADE: Yes.
SHAPIRO: ...Right now, in this moment, compared to when you started making music more than 20 years ago?
LAFOURCADE: Yeah. Yeah, my perception is that we must be very careful about this fact and open our eyes, open our hearts and not being afraid to make a strong connection to other human beings because the connections we're making right now mostly is by cellulars (ph) or, like, other kind of technologies. That - it's OK, but we must not forget that there is a very strong technology - energetic technology - that goes beyond - even beyond that, which is the magic of connection between human beings. And we need...
SHAPIRO: It goes back to getting everyone in the room together to make the album...
LAFOURCADE: Right.
SHAPIRO: ...At the same time.
LAFOURCADE: That's my point. But I always say, like, if we are lucky, that magic of music is going to come. And she's going to be the master, and she's going to show us how to make one voice all together. We're going to be all together as if we had many rehearsals. We didn't have any rehearsal, but we are all...
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
LAFOURCADE: ...Together and connected.
(SOUNDBITE OF NATALIA LAFOURCADE SONG, "COCOS EN LA PLAYA")
SHAPIRO: Well, let's end with something joyous. I think the song "Cocos En La Playa" is probably the song on this album that feels most like a party.
LAFOURCADE: I love this song, you know? The song is about basically about going on holidays and not forgetting to - the importance of, yeah, like, rest and having vacation. The lyrics has a lot of humor. I think it reflects a part of my personality and my humor. But it also reflects the humor of Mexican people, you know? It has a lot of the way we say things.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COCOS EN LA PLAYA")
LAFOURCADE: (Singing in Spanish).
I wrote this song when I was ending a tour, and I was saying OK, if something happens, I can live selling cocos en la playa.
SHAPIRO: Well, I think you're past that phase where you...
LAFOURCADE: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: ...Might have to fall back - I think you're safe now, but it's still nice to have that dream.
LAFOURCADE: Yes.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
LAFOURCADE: Yes. Now I know that it could be a very safe zone and (laughter) comfortable.
SHAPIRO: We all need that fallback of just...
LAFOURCADE: Yes.
SHAPIRO: ...Selling coconuts on the beach.
LAFOURCADE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SHAPIRO: Natalia Lafourcade, it has been so lovely talking to you. Thank you.
LAFOURCADE: Thank you so much.
SHAPIRO: Her new album is called "Cancionera."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COCOS EN LA PLAYA")
LAFOURCADE: (Singing in Spanish). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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