La Santa Cecilia

​“Traveling with La Santa has allowed us to meet the crowd, the people and start a relationship you know?” 
 

​About a week ago La Santa Cecilia, whose band name is based on the patron saint of musicians, stopped by la frontera to play at the Lowbrow Palace in El Paso, Texas. This wonderful band based in Los Angeles is currently on tour promoting their album, “Amar y Vivir”, whose tracks were recorded live in Mexico City. It is truly a treat and honor when a band that plays traditional music stops by this venue. 
 
That evening the opening band, Dulce Mal, had finished playing and people were still walking through the door, getting their ticket checked and eagerly walking into the venue. There was some type of magic in the air that night. The venue was pretty packed and the crowd was anxiously waiting for La Santa Cecilia to go on stage. This crowd was also distinct to others at this particular venue. It’s clear that there is no specific age group for La Santa Cecilia fans. There were so many generations present, which made the evening even more special. 
 
As soon as La Santa Cecilia took the stage, the crowd went wild and immediately everyone started singing along. The band sang from “Mexico Americano” to “Leña de Pirul” to a cover of the Juan Gabriel song, “Amor Eterno”.  It even made wish that my mother and grandmother were there. I know they would have loved it. La Santa Cecilia has such great stage presence and their lead singer Marisol Hernandez better known as “La Marisoul” has such powerful vocals, it is hard not to be mesmerized by the experience that is their performance. 

After the show, I went to the back part of Lowbrow where the band was sitting and Marisol was still shaking with adrenaline from the show. Before even asking the band about La Santa Cecilia, I asked them what they thought of la frontera, considering that this is not their first time in El Paso.  Marisol was quick to say that for her (when growing up) El Paso had always been el paso. “When I was young, I don’t know how my mother did it, she was a single mother, but each year she would manage to take us to her rancho, which is in Coahuila and we would always pass by here driving. We would carry blankets, clothes and more in our car all the way from California to El Paso and then from El Paso to Juárez to visit family. We have always passed by here, but only briefly. Siempre era de pasada. Now with the band, it is awesome to be able to get to know the city and it’s people.  Growing up I always thought of this place as somewhere de paso.” She mentioned that now that she is grown up, she knows that El Paso isn’t just a ciudad de paso and that it has its people, communities and a rich history. “Traveling with La Santa has allowed us to meet the crowd, the people and start a relationship you know?” 
 
It is that connection that the band has with their fans that led me to ask how La Santa Cecilia keeps their flow and dynamic going considering they have put five albums in the last six years! “We love traveling and we love the road. In these times where music has changed so much, our “bread and butter” is traveling. It is being a touring band. We aren’t a band that plays on the radio. We are a band that works hard and travels from place to place playing our music and selling our merchandise.  It’s our way of life. From our first demo to our first album with a major record label, it doesn’t matter. We love playing, writing and recording.” Marisol made it a point to say that this is what the band loves to do and it’s the reason why they keep on going and from the band’s reaction, they all agreed. “We work for it, we are inspired, and we want to play new music. We live on the road,” she said.  
 
Pepe (accordionist and requinto), added that, “this (the band) has been our longest relationship. We have been playing as a band for about ten years now and we are musicians that work in la calle. Boleros and this type of music is part of our schooling. We are looking forward to the next fifty years.” Additionally, Marisol mentioned that she met Pepe when she was fifteen years old during the time she played with some viejos on la calle de Los Olveros in Los Angeles. “Last year we celebrated our ten years as La Santa Cecilia and we felt that it was important to address in this album, this love and tradition of this specific music and our roots.”
 
As Marisol finished saying that last part, I mentioned that the title of this new album they are touring for, “Amar y Vivir” really caught my attention. Amar and vivir are two simple words, but are very complex in feeling, which led me to ask them why they chose to name the album, “Amar y Vivir”. Marisol said,“”Amar y Vivir” is one of the songs on the album written by Consuelo Velázquez. She is a singer/songwriter from Mexico and damn, those lyrics basically sum up my desire to live and love. It makes me want to work hard, to live and to love, do what I like, and chase my dreams. We decided that was a good name for the album because that’s how we feel, especially now more than ever. I hope people listen to that song because it’s so beautiful; it’s my anthem for life right now. Good vibes to all.” 
 
To conclude this lovely interview, I asked La Santa Cecilia what music means to them specifically. “For us, music has given us a reason to live. A reason to be the way we are. We grew up listening to music. It gave us our identity. So many musicians before us have inspired us. Music lets us tell our stories about where we come from, our experience as bi-cultural people, and it helps us search for who we are. We always keep searching. We are in this path and hope it doesn’t end.”
 
I want to thank La Santa Cecilia for a wonderful evening from the bottom of my heart. It was such a lovely interview! Go follow them on Instagram and keep up with what they have going on: @lasantacecilia