Y La Bamba

Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos of Y La Bamba joins Norah for an honest talk about heritage, identity, and songwriting.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:05Speaker 02

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  I'm Brian. I care because I know what it's like to not speak the language. It's not easy. Health insurance is complicated. I would say our job is to make everything easy for our UHC members. I work for UnitedHealthcare. I'm committed to care.

• 1:35Speaker 04

  Hey, I'm Norah Jones, and today I'm playing along with Ilah Bamba.

• 1:52Speaker 04

  Hey, I'm Nora and with me as always is Sarah Oda.

• 1:56Speaker 05

  Welcome to the show.

• 1:57Speaker 04

  Welcome to the show.

• 1:59Speaker 05

  Our guest today is Ilabamba. We sit down with singer-songwriter, guitarist Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos to talk about their influences, growing up with traditional Mexican music styles that lend themselves to the art of storytelling.

• 2:13Speaker 04

  This was such a fun episode. I just love their music so much. So it was really fun for me to meet them and get to share this time with them and play music.

• 2:23Speaker 05

  I know you touch on this in the episode, but they sing in both Spanish and English, but it's like you don't have to understand what's being said to feel like your heartstrings are being pulled on.

• 2:34Speaker 04

  Yes, I don't speak Spanish and I don't know what the meaning is, but it just feels so emotional when I hear it.

• 2:41Speaker 05

  It's so powerful to transcend language with music.

• 2:45Speaker 04

  I loved hanging with Luz and I'm so happy to share this episode with you. So please enjoy Ilabamba.

• 2:53Speaker 06

  OK, so one, two, one, two, three, four.

• 3:29Speaker 06

  Tanto tiempo, tanto tiempo sin hablar contigo, sin saber de tu bienestar. Extraño tu manera cuando andas conmigo. Háblame de toda diferencia que no se para, aunque duela y encontrará que los brazos de otro nuevo acarilio.

• 4:07Speaker 06

  Se ven como se ven, se ven como se van.

• 4:19Speaker 06

  Se ven como se ven Se ven como se van

• 4:34Speaker 06

  Y tu manera de ser Y tu manera de ser no me falta para que Perder el tiempo Ya ves cuando las cosas no se dicen Se ven como se ven Se ven como se van

• 5:06Speaker 06

  Ya ves cuando las cosas no se dicen Se ven como se ven Se ven como se van Take away

• 5:37Speaker 06

  Y tu manera de ser Y tu manera de ser no me falta para que Perder el tiempo Ya ves cuando las cosas no se dicen Se ven como se ven Se ven como se van

• 6:09Speaker 06

  Ya ves cuando las cosas no se dicen Se ven como se ven Se ven como se van

• 6:39Speaker 06

  Durante el mediodía el resuelto me encuentra vacía me dejo llevar con el puro sentimiento Durante el mediodía el resuelto me encuentra vacía me dejo llevar con el puro sentimiento me dejo llevar con el puro sentimiento

• 7:21Speaker 06

  me dejo llevar con el puro sentimiento tararara ta ta ta ta ta ta ra ra ra ra tu ta pa pa ta ra ra ra ra

• 7:56Speaker 04

  That was fun. That was from the new record.

• 7:58Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 7:58Speaker 04

  Or how old is the record now? Like a year?

• 8:01Speaker 07

  Yeah, probably. I mean, I wrote a lot of these songs like during the shutdown.

• 8:06Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 8:08Speaker 07

  And so now I'm like, oh.

• 8:10Speaker 04

  They're pretty heavy, right?

• 8:11Speaker 07

  Yeah, I mean, and then a lot of people, when they interview, I don't know, when you get interviewed, they're like, "Tell us about the record." I always forget to talk about a lot about the production part of it, where I'm like, "Yeah, I just got things together and da, da, da, blah, blah." Because I'm just learning, you know, I'm learning as a producer as I go along with like good engineers and stuff like that. And like, but a lot, like when I hear the record, I'm like, "Cool." Like sonically, that's what it sounds like. But the words and all of that are like very COVID, very in that time, very during the whole George Floyd, like the uprising, the everything. It's hard not to like, be like, "What happened?" Like time traveling? What is still happening, you know?

• 8:49Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, it was an intense time and... I mean, I feel like it all comes out and when you're writing, how you're feeling and that makes a lot of sense.

• 9:00Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 9:00Speaker 04

  Did you record all this stuff in a studio? Or did you sort of piece it together? Did you do a lot of stuff at home or?

• 9:06Speaker 07

  I did everything. I did stuff. I worked a lot with my, um, my friend, Ryan Oxford. He's the engineer that I've been working with like the last couple of records. And he and I collaborated, I like on Hughes, he like did like, he did the production on that, like he did the guitars. I mean, we did it together, but he already laid out like this beat and this guitar. And I was like, oh, this is awesome. So we, we did that on that song. And then the rest were, you know, me just changing some songs a little bit here and there. And until I finally was like, oh yeah, this is it. And then when I moved to Mexico and I finished it, like I added like percussion and bass and stuff like that. Moving to Mexico and doing that was like the incentive, like the incentive. Is that the right thing to say?

• 9:47Speaker 07

  I don't know, like the, the moving force of that and like having me meet community and musicians and stuff. Like kind of using like me finishing my record there, being like, oh, like I'm meeting people.

• 9:58Speaker 04

  With, with more local musicians down there.

• 10:00Speaker 07

  Yeah, there. And but yeah, I always make the same mistakes though too. But that's another conversation, you know, just as a woman and like as a divergent person in the studio. And like so many things I can go on and on and on that I'm like so shy about talking about. But it's, but at the end of the day, like that's part of the process.

• 10:22Speaker 07

  Mine, you know?

• 10:23Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, I feel like everybody has their own and it's not, there's no wrong way to do it. And whatever makes you comfortable is the way you should do it, you know?

• 10:31Speaker 07

  Yeah, it's interesting trying to tailor that.

• 10:34Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 10:34Speaker 07

  Trying to figure that out.

• 10:35Speaker 04

  And I feel like it's a never ending learning process too.

• 10:39Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 10:40Speaker 04

  I've made a lot of records and I'm still like, wait a second, I shouldn't have done it like that.

• 10:44Speaker 07

  I know, but, but that's the way it was done.

• 10:47Speaker 04

  That's just the way it was done.

• 10:47Speaker 07

  Yeah. And then, and then that's, and that's part of the growth, the growth of it all, you know? I don't know how it's other people's. See all of that process of being a creative or just being like this, you know, open channel. I don't know, there's like, there's limited language for it. But just like being this, just available for it to come out or whatever, you know?

• 11:10Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, that's kind of, that's the most sensitive part of the job, right? And it's the part that is unpredictable. And for me, that can be frustrating, but I feel like if you're open, it finds its way in and out.

• 11:27Speaker 04

  I feel like making records, I think it's so fun and I love it. And I love being creative in the studio.

• 11:32Speaker 07

  Yes.

• 11:32Speaker 04

  I don't like to overthink things. I like to do a lot of off the cuff takes and, you know, I don't like to over, overthink the music. But then when it comes down to finishing it and mixing or something, I get really like taskmaster.

• 11:46Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 11:47Speaker 04

  Because if it doesn't sound right, the way I know it sounded in a rough mix or something, I get, God, I drive people crazy.

• 11:54Speaker 07

  Because you already heard what it sounded like.

• 11:56Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 11:56Speaker 07

  You have different, you have context of different versions. Oh, yeah.

• 11:59Speaker 04

  Yeah, I drive, I'm driving people crazy right now. But the process, you know, of doing it is so fun.

• 12:05Speaker 07

  Man, we can go on for a long time.

• 12:07Speaker 04

  I know, it's so fun. Well, so you live in Mexico City now. Where did you grow up?

• 12:13Speaker 07

  I grew up in, um, so I was born in California. My mom's side of the family, they slowly started to migrate to California, like the 99, Highway 99, like harvesting fruit and nuts. So they lived in the migrant camps and worked out of them for, that was like the, the lifestyle, like in the late 70s and stuff for them. And then my dad crossed the border with a coyote three times, ran through the river, through a tunnel.

• 12:37Speaker 04

  Oh, my God.

• 12:38Speaker 07

  You know, but that was like, that was in the late 70s, 80s.

• 12:41Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 12:42Speaker 07

  Late 70s. And then I was, you know, born 1982, raised in Southern Oregon, even though I was born in California, went and visited a lot in California, spent like a lot of, had my quinceañera there, my baptism, like all the, all that stuff.

• 12:55Speaker 04

  You're part Californian.

• 12:57Speaker 07

  Yeah, I feel it, even though I wasn't like, didn't go to high school there or like anything, I spent a lot of my time there. And like, it was awkward for me in Southern Oregon. We also only hung out with Mexican families and Mexican communities in Southern Oregon. So this is an interesting upbringing. I'm trying to skip all this other stuff, but. And then I moved to Portland when I was like 24.

• 13:18Speaker 04

  You weren't in Portland. You didn't grow up that you were in.

• 13:20Speaker 07

  No, in Southern Oregon.

• 13:21Speaker 04

  Was it a small community?

• 13:23Speaker 07

  Portland or the?

• 13:24Speaker 04

  No, where you grew up.

• 13:25Speaker 07

  Yeah, it's a small, it's a small little town. It's like, it's beautiful. Southern Oregon's beautiful, like Grants Pass, Ashland, Medford. Medford was where I went to school and all that.

• 13:33Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 13:34Speaker 07

  But we all, we had a huge, large population of Mexi, like, you know, of a Latino community in Southern Oregon. Portland was just way later until like 24, 25.

• 13:43Speaker 04

  Okay. And then did you live there till you moved to Mexico City a few years ago?

• 13:46Speaker 07

  Yes, and then I.

• 13:47Speaker 04

  Oh, so that's really your, you've been there a long time.

• 13:49Speaker 07

  I moved to Guadalajara in 2019. I mean, I was like pretending, I'm like, yeah, I moved to Guadalajara. But I was touring a lot and then the shutdown happened. And when the shutdown, I was in 2020, 2019, December, and then 2020, January, I was in Mexico City. I was like, I'm gonna try Mexico City next.

• 14:07Speaker 04

  That's cool. And you love it?

• 14:09Speaker 07

  And then I did on tour, we went on tour Duran Jones, and then tour ended in February, February 29th. I stayed in LA. I was like, super like, came off of like a really awesome tour. I was all positive and stuff. And then March 4th, you know, I'm in a hot tub looking about all this COVID shit and COVID corona. And then I went to Portland because I had a job with a choir, with a high school choir. So if I didn't have that, I would have just went back to Mexico. So I stayed in Portland for the whole duration of that time. So I was already done with Portland.

• 14:41Speaker 04

  And then you had to be there.

• 14:43Speaker 07

  But it was about the same time, like, I'm sure you can relate or empathize. It felt the safest place to be during that time.

• 14:49Speaker 04

  Well, at least it was familiar.

• 14:50Speaker 07

  It was super familiar.

• 14:52Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 14:53Speaker 07

  Mexico City was awesome. I made friends, but I was like, so like, this is, what the hell?

• 14:58Speaker 04

  What you might not have if you had to be isolated.

• 15:00Speaker 07

  You know, like, what am I gonna be isolated? Someone who works new and huge in Mexico City? No, I don't think so.

• 15:05Speaker 04

  That would have been really scary, I think.

• 15:07Speaker 07

  I think it would have taxed my mental health in a different way.

• 15:09Speaker 04

  So when did you make it down there finally?

• 15:11Speaker 07

  A year and a half ago.

• 15:12Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 15:12Speaker 07

  Like, for real, with my dog. I brought my dog and.

• 15:15Speaker 04

  Nice.

• 15:16Speaker 07

  But it's also part of my neurodivergent way of organizing myself and thinking about identity and my roots and stuff. Like, I have to be in Mexico to do all that work. Like, it's so visceral for me to be there. Like, my parents are not from Mexico City. They're from like. The the sticks of, you know, they're like, they're ranchers.

• 15:38Speaker 04

  Tiny town.

• 15:38Speaker 07

  They come from like, working the land and stuff.

• 15:40Speaker 04

  Okay, not even a town.

• 15:41Speaker 07

  They didn't go to school.

• 15:42Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 15:42Speaker 07

  You know, stuff like that.

• 15:43Speaker 04

  Wow.

• 15:44Speaker 07

  There's a whole other story that I don't want to bore you with about like, what I know about my family's history. But the whole like, like trying to decolonize and all of that, you know, like for me, being in Mexico is where it starts.

• 15:56Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 15:56Speaker 07

  When I, when I actually do that work of decolonizing and understanding like, my diaspora, my roots, my, my, being biracial and like, what it all means and like, everything, just like, I think being there is like, so humbling. Because the conversations are different and they're necessary. And I need to hear them as like, a Mexican-American in Mexico. So it's like, I'm glad that I'm out of the context of the nationalism of being just American here. But being put in a place where traumatized my parents and informed and shaved my parents and my culture. So it's like, I grew up with it.

• 16:33Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 16:33Speaker 07

  So I'm there and it's familiar. I'm like, that's why it's, that's why, it's not, I'm not saying it's easy, but it's visceral, it's natural to be there.

• 16:38Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 16:39Speaker 07

  But there's so much more that I need to educate myself in a way that they couldn't educate me of another part of Mexico. That I, that I'm like, whoa. Like the politics and the.

• 16:49Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 16:50Speaker 07

  The, so much, so much stuff.

• 16:52Speaker 04

  It sounds like a real.

• 16:53Speaker 07

  So it's like my ayahuasca, even though I never done, I've never done that, but I'm like, whoa. I'm like, face to face with like this machismo, the capitalistic, the trauma of like, all of that. You know, like, it's just, and Mexico is a different face, you know? And the United States is a different face. But being there and see what it did to my parents and what it continues to, you know, all of it. It's all, it's all the same root. It's all the, the root of violence and power and, you know.

• 17:18Speaker 04

  Yeah, that is the root of it.

• 17:19Speaker 07

  And all that stuff.

• 17:20Speaker 04

  Well, and also, you're just, you're just like, diving right into your own self by being there, probably. You know?

• 17:28Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 17:28Speaker 04

  And you're, you're finding out more and more about yourself.

• 17:31Speaker 07

  Yeah, it's very humbling. Forty-one and like, trying to not take space, but then take the space. You should come, you should come and visit.

• 17:39Speaker 04

  I would love to. I've only spent, I've only been to Mexico City a couple of times and I got, I got really, I think I got altitude sickness both times.

• 17:47Speaker 07

  I would get bloody noses the first few months that I was traveling back and forth.

• 17:52Speaker 04

  Really?

• 17:52Speaker 07

  It was wild. I would wake up and I'm like, what?

• 17:56Speaker 04

  Everyone always tells me it's the best city and the coolest and every time I get there, I just, I gotta like stay in bed. I can't, I can't hang.

• 18:03Speaker 07

  That means you have to be there for a month?

• 18:05Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 18:05Speaker 07

  And wait, get the sickness for like, get rid of the week long or whatever it will do to your body and then just like.

• 18:11Speaker 04

  You talking about that makes me think of something that is so, for me, because my dad was Indian and I didn't really grow up. I went there a couple of times when I was little, but I didn't really grow up in that, with that side of my family so much. But I always wondered what it would be like to really go and spend time there. I've spent, I have spent time there, but like to live there would be a whole other thing.

• 18:35Speaker 07

  There's not a lot of Mexican-Americans that I know that are living in Mexico City.

• 18:40Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 18:40Speaker 07

  There's this reverse assimilation shit going on or something.

• 18:43Speaker 04

  Really?

• 18:44Speaker 07

  I'm still trying to unpack it all. Like that's why I like hesitate talking about it, but I'm like trying to find the root. I'm like, oh yeah, like there's certain similar things from code switching in spaces or American culture or whatever. Because I grew up in just like Mexican, you know, all, you know, those type of conversations of, I don't know. Just know, just knowing how to participate in a different, like your culture's political affairs or emotional affairs, spiritual affairs, like ancestral affairs, like all this stuff that just, you know, there's people that don't care about these topics or they do, but I just can't help it, you know? I'm like, oh, like, like we are like algorithms of our ancestors, you know, like these ancestral algorithms.

• 19:26Speaker 04

  That is true.

• 19:27Speaker 07

  You know, like, and it's, for me, it's if we have access to, and it is a privilege to like, you know, investigate where you come from or go to that, to go to the country where your parents are from or like, but there's not a lot of us in Mexico City that get to experience, you know, Mexico City. Mexican, like Mexican-Americans that come from communities that we came from, like migrant, you know, like that.

• 19:50Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 19:51Speaker 07

  It's interesting taking that space and I don't want to be like, hey, in the United States, we talk about identity politics like this and so, you know, like you don't, you don't, you can't apply that shit.

• 19:59Speaker 04

  No, it's like a whole different way of being, right?

• 20:02Speaker 07

  Yeah, and I wonder what it would be like. You know, I'm sure I can empathize with you. Like, I'm hearing a little, I don't know you, but like, you didn't grow up with that side of the family, but that shit will never go away.

• 20:13Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:13Speaker 07

  That shit's like so you, I'm sure, right?

• 20:16Speaker 04

  Well, and I'm close to them now, and I was close to my dad, you know, after age 18, so I, it wasn't like, it's not like they're complete strangers to me, but having not grown up in it, it's a weird place to be.

• 20:30Speaker 07

  It is.

• 20:31Speaker 04

  Like, to feel like I'm not really a part of it.

• 20:33Speaker 07

  In between.

• 20:34Speaker 04

  Yeah. Even though they're kind and welcoming, once I was a part of it, it's different to grow up in it than to be on the outside of it.

• 20:43Speaker 07

  Mm-hmm.

• 20:44Speaker 04

  So. Who am I?

• 20:46Speaker 07

  Yeah, yeah.

• 20:48Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:49Speaker 07

  Just looking.

• 20:50Speaker 04

  Oh, God.

• 20:53Speaker 08

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• 22:16Speaker 04

  But what did you listen to growing up? Did you listen to just traditional Mexican music?

• 22:20Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 22:21Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 22:21Speaker 07

  Thanks for asking that question. I grew up listening to, so the music that informed my ears, my spirit, my brain, my whole environment was Mexican music.

• 22:32Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 22:32Speaker 07

  It was corridos. Corridos like, and música norteña, like Ramón Ayala, Los Bravos del Norte, Cornelio Reina, música del campo, like from, I can send you playlists.

• 22:45Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 22:45Speaker 07

  Like Las Gilguerías, Las Palomas, Dueta Azteca. You know, duets.

• 22:51Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 22:51Speaker 07

  Like, like from like the ranch, like just.

• 22:54Speaker 04

  Uh huh.

• 22:55Speaker 07

  And then there's a lot of music that I grew up listening to is kind of misogynistic now, but it just didn't age well, but it's still nostalgic for me. Like a lot of like those corridos, you know, are like, but it really tells a story of how people are living, you know? Even if it's like, you know, and then also seeing like misogynist, misogynistic men singing, there's that deep wound of, the deep wound of patriarchy, the sensitive man just like singing, like it's the only way to like express their emotions. At least I'm saying it from like the men that I grew up with, and my dad specifically is like such a macho dude, but like they don't share their emotions, but they will definitely sing a song on top of their lungs, you know?

• 23:36Speaker 04

  That's amazing.

• 23:37Speaker 07

  And sing along. And I'm sure like a lot of like cultures are similar, like, I don't know, the American culture is like something totally different.

• 23:44Speaker 04

  I'm not sure, but.

• 23:45Speaker 07

  Yeah, it's not, but like, I know, I know in Mexican culture, like when we emote and like mariachi music too, like son tradicional de tierra caliente, le son tradicional. Like it's just, you're emoting, you're like saying something, like Juan Gabriel, you see that guy, you know, rest in peace, when you saw that person sing, holy crap, you know that person was with conviction and saying something. And a lot of the men would watch and be like, oh, like kind of uncomfortable from like their homophobia and seeing a gay like man really just sing, but like they couldn't help to empathize and be like, oh, I feel the same, I feel like this pain, because they can identify but not, you know, like. I still love that music.

• 24:25Speaker 07

  I love, love, love like all the guitars, like the rincintos. And even a lot of the lyrics. I didn't grow up listening to boleros though, that much. Boleros and mariachi. I grew up listening to mariachi, but boleros was more commercial. From what I hear, I understand. It was more like around. It was beautiful. Boleros are beautiful.

• 24:45Speaker 04

  Okay. I don't know all the difference between.

• 24:48Speaker 07

  There's, I'm learning. Guapangos, boleros.

• 24:51Speaker 04

  I mean, I know mariachi probably the best.

• 24:53Speaker 07

  It's very commercial. That's why.

• 24:54Speaker 04

  It's commercial, okay.

• 24:55Speaker 07

  Or like, commercial in the sense where it was more, um, what's that word? More accessible? Or it was, I don't know the right word, but boleros and mariachi was the stuff that you always heard around. It was like the most go to. And then all the corridos and ortegenas, I think were. I think a lot, there's a lot of classism too, with like, the type of music that people listen to. Like, I would like, people would discriminate, like, música from a ranch. It'd be like, oh, you're from that class. You're like a rancher, so you listen to that type of music.

• 25:25Speaker 04

  Would it be comparable to like folk music?

• 25:27Speaker 07

  I think so.

• 25:28Speaker 04

  From back in the day?

• 25:29Speaker 07

  I think so. I, I always tried to find, I always tried to compare, but you, you know, at the end of the day, you can't. Cause when you talk about Indian folk music, you're like, you can't really compare it to like.

• 25:37Speaker 04

  Or no, American folk music.

• 25:38Speaker 07

  Or like, go to American folk music. But even, it's like, kinda, it's not the same. You can't compare Indian folk music with American folk music.

• 25:47Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 25:48Speaker 07

  You can't compare Mexican music to.

• 25:50Speaker 04

  Totally.

• 25:50Speaker 07

  American folk music. But it is, it could be somewhat similar in that sense.

• 25:55Speaker 04

  Yeah. Home, strumming.

• 25:57Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 25:57Speaker 04

  Singing.

• 25:58Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 25:58Speaker 04

  Together.

• 25:58Speaker 07

  And picking, guitar picking.

• 26:00Speaker 04

  No like, you know, huge production. Right, okay.

• 26:03Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 26:04Speaker 04

  Yeah. You asked me to sing a song of yours, which I'm stoked.

• 26:08Speaker 07

  Okay.

• 26:08Speaker 04

  You wanna do it?

• 26:09Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 26:10Speaker 04

  Has this been released on anything?

• 26:12Speaker 07

  No. I don't know, you know what I do? I'm really bad. So I do a lot of songs live. I don't record them. There's a lot of songs that I'm like, la la la. Oh, Crema de Melón. Crema de Melón is also not.

• 26:24Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 26:24Speaker 07

  On.

• 26:25Speaker 04

  That one too.

• 26:25Speaker 07

  But we, we should do this one.

• 26:27Speaker 04

  Let's do this one.

• 26:29Speaker 07

  So you'll sing.

• 26:29Speaker 04

  I'm gonna, you could, I'm gonna sing it. I can't sing it like you, but I'm gonna sing it like me.

• 26:34Speaker 07

  Yes. I'm excited.

• 26:37Speaker 04

  I'm excited.

• 26:38Speaker 07

  I always like, I wanna write songs for people to sing and I just get really intimidated.

• 26:42Speaker 04

  I've never done that. I've never written something for someone else.

• 26:46Speaker 07

  Isn't too. I have imposter syndrome intimidating, but I want someone to hear. I wanna hear someone else sing my song, you know?

• 26:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, I feel like it's a different mindset and it's, it's hard to get in there. And feel confident about it. It's also, I feel, I do think sometimes it's hard for someone else to sing your song like you. As good as you.

• 27:08Speaker 07

  Yeah, don't sing it like me.

• 27:09Speaker 04

  No, but I mean, to embody the feeling and the actual soul of it. Is hard to do when you didn't write it. And the people, you know, great interpreters are of course, can do it, but. I mean, I, I could imagine like, you giving a song to someone and then thinking, hmm, I think I could do better. Cause you're so good.

• 27:30Speaker 07

  What? I'm really, I'm into, I'm intimidated. I've been writing, so I wrote a song for my friend Emma. She's gonna put it on a record and she's learning how to produce herself and she's, she's learning the whole like, asking me questions like, hey, so I'm recording with this guy. He's asking me for this much, like she's asking me these questions, you know? And I was like, here, here's a song, like, I don't care about royalties or anything or whatever. I wrote a song, you put it on your record and like, I'll produce it for you or whatever. And, and you don't owe me anything because no other fucking dude is gonna give that to you. You know, like it's a clock.

• 28:03Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 28:03Speaker 07

  You know, like, people are like, okay, time is money. But sometimes like we, I don't know, especially as a woman, for me, like, we need a little bit of like, you know, a learning curve. We need like space, you know, more space.

• 28:16Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's hard to know how to go about things sometimes.

• 28:32Speaker 07

  Okay.

• 28:34Speaker 04

  Nice.

• 28:36Speaker 07

  The reason why this is so hard is because, well, now that I know that it's been recorded and everything.

• 28:42Speaker 04

  Now you're overthinking it.

• 28:44Speaker 07

  Well, yeah, I'm like, oh, no, because I'm just like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And also, just, it's so different, like, having people watching you.

• 28:51Speaker 04

  Oh, I know.

• 28:51Speaker 07

  And I just met you.

• 28:53Speaker 04

  Oh, I know.

• 28:54Speaker 07

  It's hard to process, just like, meeting, yeah, come on.

• 28:58Speaker 04

  Oh, it's a weird thing. I know it is, totally.

• 29:02Speaker 07

  Okay, so.

• 29:03Speaker 04

  Safe space, though.

• 29:05Speaker 07

  So, the beginning of the song is.

• 29:10Speaker 07

  Oh, yeah. You start from the beginning, and then I'm gonna come in.

• 29:19Speaker 07

  This song, too, has a lot to do with not masking anymore. A lot of the words are just like, part of my healing journey of learning who I am as a person in this world. It's like, seeing like, something, something ain't right, I know I can tell. It's like, always knowing that I've, you know, just been a little different, not just from, um, trauma, ancestral trauma and stuff like that, but is just way more, so much more complex. And being on this journey, being later diagnosed, and trying to process all those feelings, unpack all of that, like, kinda like, where you're not, I won't be ashamed, darkness awaits, silence unknown, I'm still recovering,

• 30:00Speaker 07

  it's like wrapping my bones all in my body, like, being conscious of my physical body and the spirit that's holding it, carrying it around.

• 30:08Speaker 07

  And then the part of like, how curious, I'm curious what will be done now.

• 30:14Speaker 07

  Like, the curiosity of what we're going to do as a people, as a community, as, you know.

• 30:21Speaker 04

  Yeah. I can feel that from these lyrics, but it's, they're so clear, but also so universally applicable.

• 30:31Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 30:31Speaker 04

  It's like, the best kind of song, right?

• 30:33Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 30:33Speaker 04

  You know?

• 30:34Speaker 07

  I'm talking about eating yogurt.

• 30:36Speaker 04

  No, you're definitely not, but, you know, not, but, not in a shallow way, in a, in a deep way.

• 30:41Speaker 07

  Totally, I feel you.

• 30:42Speaker 04

  It's like, that, that simple prayer kind of thing, I think.

• 30:47Speaker 09

  Hi, I kinda like singing hi.

• 30:49Speaker 07

  I also write songs that are not my register a lot.

• 30:53Speaker 09

  On purpose, or just because you're...

• 30:54Speaker 07

  On purpose, just because I like, I can't, I hear him that way. And I like seeing him like that. But when I'm live, everyone's like, they can't hear me. You know, but I'm singing in my falsetto and like, just, I like it.

• 31:06Speaker 09

  It's a vulnerable place to sing. I think that's probably why it rings like more true.

• 31:12Speaker 07

  But I love it.

• 31:15Speaker 09

  Should we just go for it and see what happens?

• 31:16Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 31:17Speaker 09

  Okay.

• 31:17Speaker 07

  I'm all.

• 31:21Speaker 09

  Something, something ain't right.

• 31:31Speaker 09

  I know I can tell.

• 31:37Speaker 09

  Where you're not, I won't be ashamed. Darkness waits.

• 31:54Speaker 09

  Silence unknown. I'm still recovering. Wrapping my bones, all of my body. As my spirit wanders around. I'm curious what will be done now.

• 32:29Speaker 09

  I might give a damn.

• 32:50Speaker 09

  Patience may change, like the rain in the summer. Truth might not be the same.

• 33:06Speaker 09

  Candlelit corners as my eyes face the night. Healing all the pain.

• 33:36Speaker 09

  Can't believe it's been a year. Drove me away to disappear. Nothing to prove, to take.

• 34:01Speaker 09

  What is life if we fade?

• 34:10Speaker 09

  I think I might give it a try. To breathe as deep as I can take.

• 34:27Speaker 09

  I might give it down.

• 34:52Speaker 09

  And then the fairies came out of the sky.

• 34:56Speaker 07

  I loved that.

• 35:00Speaker 04

  That felt really beautiful.

• 35:02Speaker 07

  And that's a, I've never sung, that song has never been sung out loud.

• 35:08Speaker 04

  That's amazing.

• 35:08Speaker 07

  But.

• 35:09Speaker 04

  What's the recording you sent me from? Was it a demo or was it from a show?

• 35:12Speaker 07

  No, it's a demo from my house. So you hear the lady outside selling.

• 35:16Speaker 04

  I heard that, yeah.

• 35:17Speaker 07

  She wasn't, she's not selling anything. She's, it's this audio recording you hear all throughout Mexico with all these trucks trying to pick up like your old mattresses, your old like refrigerators or appliances and they, and they pick them up, like recycle them.

• 35:31Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 35:31Speaker 07

  So you hear the.

• 35:35Speaker 07

  And I laughed. And then it's, I started singing immediately and it didn't even, she was outside but didn't even, or it was outside, didn't even keep going. So it was like a perfect time to.

• 35:43Speaker 04

  That's great.

• 35:44Speaker 07

  Go in the song.

• 35:45Speaker 04

  It's funny in the beginning, that first part, it almost felt like Irish to me or something.

• 35:50Speaker 07

  Cause you heard the.

• 35:53Speaker 04

  No, just the way the melody is and the, it was funny. I was singing it. I was like, I feel Irish all of a sudden. That's strange.

• 36:00Speaker 07

  Yeah, I don't know. I have 1% Irish in me.

• 36:02Speaker 04

  It's so funny how, how the different ways of singing in completely different parts of the world sometimes just sort of are similar.

• 36:11Speaker 07

  You know what I love? I love, I love Indian music and the, the non-conventional, the non, um, the intervals, like all, like all the hidden in-betweens.

• 36:21Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 36:22Speaker 07

  Cause that's what the world is. There's no binary. So when you look at a, when you look at a fret, to me it's binary.

• 36:27Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah. It's straight.

• 36:29Speaker 07

  Because there's like.

• 36:31Speaker 07

  But, and it's also like in this, uh, what is it tuned in? In this like American, Western, kind of like whatever. But then you see all this, the fluidity. I feel like when you go, I'm so, super ignorant, but like India is so fluid with so many things.

• 36:45Speaker 04

  Oh, it's a, it's a huge, big.

• 36:48Speaker 07

  It's non-binary. It feels non-binary. It feels like there's a place for so, so much spirit and so much, um.

• 36:55Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 36:55Speaker 07

  But I don't know.

• 36:56Speaker 04

  I don't either.

• 36:57Speaker 07

  So that's why with music, I'm like, oh, like if people are playing, you know, different cultures are playing like music that is like a violin or like, you know, a symphony. It's like you can just really capture so much more than like the

• 37:13Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's beautiful.

• 37:15Speaker 07

  I love it.

• 37:16Speaker 04

  It's funny, too, with piano. It's very like, I can't bend any notes, but

• 37:20Speaker 07

  But you can bend your vocal note.

• 37:22Speaker 04

  Yeah, totally.

• 37:23Speaker 07

  What's up? That's what's up.

• 37:24Speaker 04

  That's what's up.

• 37:26Speaker 07

  Well, um.

• 37:26Speaker 04

  This was great.

• 37:28Speaker 07

  Yeah, I mostly just, I really wanted to meet you and just be in your presence and hang out. And I'm, after this, after I walk away, I'm gonna be like, what the hell just happened? What did I do? What's going on?

• 37:39Speaker 04

  We'll send you the recording and then you remember.

• 37:42Speaker 07

  All right, well then.

• 37:43Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 37:44Speaker 07

  I guess this is it.

• 37:45Speaker 04

  This was awesome.

• 37:45Speaker 07

  Okay.

• 37:46Speaker 04

  You were great.

• 37:47Speaker 07

  Nora, you were great.

• 37:48Speaker 04

  It was so fun.

• 37:49Speaker 00

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• 38:20Speaker 04

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• 39:17Speaker 04

  Ah, that was so nice.

• 39:18Speaker 05

  That was great. They're such an open and beautiful soul.

• 39:21Speaker 04

  Yes, very open, and I was really thankful for that.

• 39:25Speaker 05

  Felt very connected to the music.

• 39:27Speaker 04

  Yeah, it was great. I learned a lot.

• 39:31Speaker 04

  The first song in that episode was "De buhos de mi alma", which came out in 2023 on the album called Lucha. The second song we did is called "I Might". I had so much fun singing that song. Thanks again for listening. Today's episode was recorded by Matt Marinelli, mixed by Jamie Landry, edited by Sarah Oda, additional recording by Jamie Landry, additional editing and mixing by Matthew Vasquez, artwork by Eliza Frye, photography by Shirvin Lainez, coordinating producer Rachel Ward, produced by Norah Jones and Sarah Oda. Hey, that's me and you. Yeehee.

• 40:12Speaker 04

  If you love music and great artist interviews, check out "Before the Moment", hosted by Niall Rogers. This new series follows Niall as he travels across the country talking with some of today's most fascinating artists about the moments that shaped their lives and careers. From hitmakers like Miguel to rising stars like Alex Warren, Niall explores the stories behind the careers, the songs, and the moments that changed everything. Because every musician remembers the point where everything changed, and this podcast tells the stories that came before it. Listen to "Before the Moment", a Lincoln original series on iHeartRadio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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• 41:52Speaker 12

  Hello?

• 41:53Speaker 13

  Hey, it's me, your wallet.

• 41:55Speaker 12

  Oh, hey.

• 41:56Speaker 13

  I was just wondering if we could maybe take it easy this week?

• 41:59Speaker 12

  Absolutely.

• 42:00Speaker 13

  Really?

• 42:01Speaker 12

  Yep, I'm shopping at Food Lion.

• 42:03Speaker 13

  Wait, you mean low prices?

• 42:05Speaker 12

  And MVP savings.

• 42:06Speaker 13

  Oh, you do care.

• 42:08Speaker 12

  Obviously.

• 42:09Speaker 13

  Okay, I feel better.

• 42:10Speaker 12

  Good, now let's go get some snacks.

• 42:14Speaker 14

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