Chavela Vargas
Cupaima

THE REVIEW

Chavela Vargas roamed around Mexico in the '60s, dressed as a man, with a cigar in her mouth and a gun on her belt. A character who defied conventions, she publicly declared herself a lesbian at the age of 81, after becoming an icon of ranchera music for her extraordinary voice and her heart-wrenching performances. In the '90s, her career was revived by the film industry's interest in her, featuring in the soundtracks of Almodovar and acting in "Scream of Stone" by Herzog and the film about Frida Khalo by Julie Taymor.

That said, I must admit that I don't quite digest ranchera music and even her voice bores me somewhat: I don't like female voices. However, I really like this record. In the albums recorded during her old age, her voice is hoarse and expressive, decidedly more interesting than in her youthful works, and what’s more, this record musically strays from the ranchero style: in fact, it is a reinterpretation of her classics introducing musical instruments typical of pre-Columbian culture. The album aims to create an ideal bridge between 20th-century Mexican music and that of pre-Hispanic populations.

This ancient voice (87 years old!), accompanied, besides the classical guitar, by various wind instruments and indie percussion, evokes the closeness to the earth and ancestors, inherent in someone who, almost at the end of their journey, only needs to lift their head to see them on the horizon. This is accentuated by the use of natural sounds from the forest, linked to the fact that some tracks on the album were recorded near pre-Columbian ruins.