La Santa Cecilia

Name: La Santa Cecilia
Start: 2024-11-09T20:00:00-08:00
Location: The Get Down

Schedule

Sat Nov 09 2024 at 08:00 pm

UTC-08:00

Location

The Get Down | Portland, OR

Doors: 7:00pm
Show: 8:00pm
Ages: 21+
Ticket Prices: $30.00 adv // $35.00 day of show. All GA
Support: TBA
Santa Cecilia (named after the patron saint of musicians) was formed in 2007 as a sextet. Its founding members were guitarist Gloria Estrada, accordionist and requintista Pepe Carlos, bassist Alex Bendaña, percussionist Miguel "Oso" Ramírez, drummer Hugo Vargas and lead vocalist Marisol "La Marisoul" Hernández. The band members were born or came to the United States when they were very young. While they all grew up with traditional forms of Latin music at home, they were also exposed to the sounds of American pop culture: rock, soul, blues, jazz, jazz, funk, punk, ska, reggae and other sounds of the world that were playing on the airwaves and in the neighborhoods. They performed at block parties, bars, coffee shops and, from time to time, as opening acts for out-of-town artists and at festivals. Los Angeles-based Santa Cecilia is a Latin rock band that draws inspiration from music around the world, using Pan-American rhythms from Colombian and Mexican cumbia, bossa nova, rumba, bolero and tango, and combining them with rock, soul, R&B, ska, jazz and even klezmer. Children of Immigrants, their acclaimed 2013 debut album, Treinta Días, offered an upbeat yet intensely personal take on Latin life, and released the hit single "Ice el Hielo," which became an anthem for the 14 million undocumented inhabitants of the United States and paved the way for the band to win a Grammy for Best Latin Rock Album. In 2017, La Santa Cecilia released Amar y Vivir, an audiovisual album composed of cover versions. The set was recorded live in the streets, plazas, cantinas and theaters of Mexico City. The eponymous 2019 mini album was recorded as a tribute to the parents of three of the band members, who had passed away in the previous 18 months. Its closing track is a cover of the Bessie Smith blues standard "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out." Two years later, La Santa Cecilia released "Quiero Verte Feliz". The title track was recorded in collaboration with singer-songwriter Lila Downs. The group recorded their first eponymous EP in 2009. Aside from their superb songwriting and performances, the CD revealed something else that was different about this band: They wanted to be part of their community. They sponsored "paint parties" where they played and designed and hand-painted their CD covers with friends and fans, using materials ranging from recycled newsprint to wrapping paper, cardboard and more. No two covers were alike, making them objects d'art. The band's music spread throughout the city and local listeners invited them to play more gigs and festivals. Their incendiary live performances garnered them a fanatical fan base, and music from the EP ended up appearing on the cable TV series Weeds, in the documentary Re-Encounters (about Oaxacan artist Alejandro Santiago) and elsewhere. La Santa Cecilia's second EP, Noche y Citas, was released in 2010 and garnered more critical acclaim, and the group began touring Mexico and eventually North America. Their third EP included four covers and one original song. The covers ranged from Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love" and U2's "One" to "Love Came Here" by the late Lhasa de Sela and "Viento" by Caifanes, showing not only their variety, but their commitment to a wide variety of music. With growing popularity at home and abroad, La Santa Cecilia signed with Universal and reduced the core group to La Marisoul, Bendaña, Carlos and Ramirez. Their debut album, Treinta días, was released in May 2013 and became the most played debut of the week on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums chart and won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album in February 2014. The band hit the road, playing Bonnaroo, SXSW and many other festivals. They shared the stage with Elvis Costello, Stevie Wonder and Los Lobos. In March, less than a month after winning their Grammy, the band released Someday New. Their single "Cumbia Morada" hit the charts in its first week. In addition, a cover of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" was a hit. Another version of "Ice El Hielo" appeared on the album; the song was used in the FX series “The Bridge”. La Santa Cecilia worked on the road, taught songwriting workshops and were selected as one of two opening acts for Café Tacuba's 25th anniversary tour. They also became an international headliner in their own right before returning to the studio. In August 2015, they released a pre-release single in English, "I Won't Cry for You," and followed it up with "Nunca Mas (Never Again)" in December. The full Buenaventura album was released in February 2016. The album featured appearances by Enrique Bunbury, Fito Páez, members of Los Lobos and Milwaukee's Latino Arts Strings Program. The band deepened its collaboration with producer Sebastian Krys and signed to his Rebeleon Entertainment label. The result was the most ambitious recording of their career to date. They decided to record an "audiovisual album" in Mexico City. La Santa Cecilia started out as a street band in Los Angeles, singing rancheras and boleros, as well as pop, soul and rock songs in Spanish and English. To reflect this across the border, they recorded each song - 11 versions, one original - in the plazas, parks, bars and theaters of the great metropolis. Each song was recorded live and accompanied by a video. The material reflected their roots. There were versions of rancheras, boleros and mariachi classics by some of Mexico's best composers, such as Violeta Parra, Consuelo Velázquez (composer of the song "Bésame Mucho") and Tomás Méndez, as well as modern songs by Café Tacvba, Juan Gabriel and Smokey Robinson. La Santa Cecilia has also had the collaboration of Mon Laferte (Chilean singer-songwriter), Noel Schajris (Argentine-Mexican singer), Eugenia León and Rebel Cats (rockabilly). The band previewed Amar y Vivir with three videos, all released on the same day in April 2017, including a cover of the title track, "Amar y Vivir" (written by Velázquez), featuring Mexican rock band Comisario Pantera. The full album was released in mid-May. It reached number 28 on the Top Latin Albums chart and received a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Pop Album. La Santa Cecilia returned in 2019, with a self-titled full-length. Produced once again by Sebastian Krys, the album was written in the midst of loss and grief: three of the parents of the band's four members had passed away in the previous 18 months. Its first single and video, "Winning," was released in July. Mixed by Grammy-winning Dave Pensado, the track was an '80s-inspired surf-rock that addressed the idea that, in the early 21st century, people were more likely to live online rather than experience it, dulling and replacing our reactions to
tragedy, disaster and the struggle for justice with clickbait that would be easily replaced during the next "trending" news cycle. The recording also included a groundbreaking version of the Bessie Smith classic "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" to close the set. Saint Cecilia was released in mid-October. Although the band toured for the first few months of the new year, they were forced off the road and into quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and 2021. They reappeared in October 2021 with the single "Quiero Verte Feliz," recorded in a rare collaboration with singer Lila Downs. The cut served as the final track (and title track) on the band's eight-track album that appeared in November; and was nominated for a Grammy and Latin Grammy for Best Tropical Vallenato / Cumbia Album in 2022 and 2023. During 2021 and 2022 La Santa Cecilia toured several cities throughout the United States and Mexico with her tour "Quiero Verte Feliz". This tour consolidated their musical career, performing in venues such as The Goldfield, Sacramento; UC Theater, Berkeley; Lunario del Auditorio Nacional; CDMX, among others. In addition to getting 2 sold outs at The Regent California and his first Sold Out in Mexico City at the emblematic Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris. Likewise, 2022 served as a year of new music for the Mexican-American band, who produced their ninth album titled "4 Copas: Bohemia en la Finca Altozano", released on April 14, 2023; from which titles such as "Dos Botellas de Mezcal", "Copa Rota", "El Andariego", "Almohada" and "Cuatro Copas" can be heard; La Santa Cecilia continues with its harvest of successes, new music and presentations. They have managed to expand their music to more and more corners, performing at large scale festivals in Latin America such as Vive Latino on March 18th and 19th in Mexico City and the Tecate Pa'l Norte festival on March 31st in Monterrey, Mexico. In addition to achieving an important step in their career by arriving for the first time in Europe, specifically in Spain, where they will participate in the Rio Babel Festival in Madrid and the Pirineos Sur Festival in Lanuza on July 1 and 8 respectively. In addition to two individual dates such as O grove at the Nautico on July 2 and Sala Sidecar in Barcelona on July 7.