La Santa Cecilia

Los Angeles-based La Santa Cecilia is a “new thing” Latin rock group that draws musical inspiration from across the globe, utilizing Pan-American rhythms from Colombian and Mexican cumbia, bossa nova, rhumba, bolero, and tango and marrying them to rock, soul, R&B, ska, jazz, and even klezmer. The children of immigrants, their acclaimed 2013 debut album, Treinta Dias, offered an uptempo yet intensely personal view of Latino life, and delivered the hit single “Ice el Hielo” — which became an anthem for the 14 million undocumented denizens of the U.S. and paved the way for the band to win a Grammy for Best Latin Rock Album. In 2017, La Santa Cecilia issued Amar y Vivir, an audio-visual album comprised of covers. The set was recorded live to tape on streets, in plazas, cantinas, and theaters around Mexico City. 2019′s eponymously titled mini-album was recorded in tribute to three of the bandmembers’ fathers, 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 issued Quiero Verte Feliz. Its title track was recorded in collaboration with singer/songwriter Lila Downs.
La Santa Cecilia (named for the patron saint of musicians) was formed in 2007 as a sextet. Its founding members were guitarist Gloria Estrada, accordionist and requintero Pepe Carlos, bassist Alex Bendaña, percussionist Miguel "Oso" Ramirez, drummer Hugo Vargas, and lead vocalist Marisol "La Marisoul" Hernandez. The bandmembers were either born in or brought 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, funk, punk, ska, reggae, and other world sounds that were played on the airwaves and in neighborhoods. They performed at block parties, bars, coffee houses, and the occasional opening gig for out-of-town acts and at festivals.
The group recorded their self-titled debut EP in 2009. Aside from terrific songwriting and performances, the CD package revealed something else that was different about this band: They wanted to be part of their community. They sponsored “painting parties” where they would play and design and hand paint their CD covers with friends and fans, using materials that ranged from recycled newsprint to wrapping paper to card stock and more. No two covers were alike and were therefore art objects. Local notice spread about the group’s music, and they received local airplay, which in turn led to invitations to play more shows and festivals. Their incendiary live performances garnered them a fanatic fan base, and music from the EP was eventually featured in the cable series Weeds, in the documentary film Re-Encounters (about Oaxacan artist Alejandro Santiago), and elsewhere.
La Santa Cecilia’s second EP, Noche y Citas, was released in 2010 and garnered further critical acclaim, and the group began to tour in Mexico and, eventually, throughout North America. Their third EP featured four covers as well an original song. The covers ranged from Gloria Jones’ “Tainted Love” and U2′s “One” to the late Lhasa de Sela’s “Love Came Here” and “Viento” by Caifanes, displaying not only their range but their commitment to a variety of music.
With growing popularity at home and abroad, La Santa Cecilia signed to Universal and pared down the core of the group to La Marisoul, Bendaña, Carlos, and Ramirez. Their debut album, Treinta Dias, was released in May 2013, and became the Hot Shot Debut of the Week on Billboard’s Latin Pop Albums and won the Grammy award for Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative Album in February 2014. The band took to the road, playing Bonnaroo, SXSW, and many other festivals. They shared stages with Elvis Costello, Stevie Wonder, and Los Lobos. In March, less than a month after winning their Grammy, the band released Someday New. Its single “Cumbia Morada” charted 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 disc; the song was used in the series The Bridge on FX.
La Santa Cecilia worked the road, conducted songwriting workshops, and were selected as one of the two openers on Cafe Tacuba’s 25th anniversary tour. They also became an international headline act in their own right before heading back into the studio. In August 2015, they dropped an English-language pre-release single, “I Won’t Cry for You,” and followed it with “Nunca Mas (Never Again)” in December. The full-length Buenaventura was released in February 2016. The album featured guest spots by Enrique Bunbury, Fito Páez, members of Los Lobos, and the Latino Arts Strings Program of Milwaukee.
The band deepened their collaboration with longtime producer Sebastian Krys and signed to his Rebelon Entertainment label. This action resulted in the most ambitious recording of their career to date. They decided to cut an “audio-visual album” in Mexico City. La Santa Cecilia began as a street band in Los Angeles, singing rancheras and boleros, as well as Spanish- and English-language pop, soul, and rock tunes. To reflect this on the other side of the border, they recorded each track — 11 covers, one original — in the plazas, parks, bars, and theaters of the great metropolis. Each song was cut live to tape and had an accompanying video. The material reflected their roots. There were versions of classic rancheras, boleros, and mariachis from some of Mexico’s greatest songwriters — including Violeta Parra, Consuelo Velazquez (composer of the standard “Besame Mucho”), and Tomas Mendez — as well as modern tunes from Cafe Tacvba, Juan Gabriel, and Smokey Robinson. La Santa Cecilia also enlisted a host of collaborators to perform with them for the project, including Chilean singer/songwriter Mon Laferte, Argentine-Mexican singer Noel Schajris, Eugenia Leon, and rockabilly upstarts Rebel Cats. The band previewed Amar y Vivir with three videos — all issued on the same day in April 2017 — including a version of the title track, “Amar y Vivir” (written by Velazquez), featuring the chart-topping Mexico City-based rock band Comisario Pantera. The full-length project was issued in mid-May. It peaked at number 28 on the Top Latin Albums chart, and also received a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Pop Album.
La Santa Cecilia returned in 2019, with a self-titled full-length. Produced once more by Sebastian Krys, the set was written amid loss and grief — three of the four bandmembers’ fathers had passed away over the previous 18 months. Its first single and video, “Winning,” was released in July. Mixed by Grammy winner Dave Pensado, the track was an ’80s-inspired surf-rocker that took on the notion that in the early 21st century, people were more likely to live online rather than experientially, dulling and replacing our reactions to tragedy, disaster, and the struggle for justice with clickbait that would easily be replaced during the next “trending” news cycle. The recording also featured an innovative cover of the Bessie Smith classic “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” to close the set. La Santa Cecilia was issued in mid-October.
While the band toured into the early months of the new year, they were forced off the road and into quarantine by the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and 2021. They re-emerged in October of 2021 with the single “Quiero Verte Feliz,” recorded in a rare collaboration with singer Lila Downs. The cut served as the final (and title) track of the band’s eight-track album that appeared in November. ~ Thom Jurek