Mireya Ramos Shares the Stories and Sounds Behind Her Solo Album Guerrera (Live from CR5)

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It – Marea Ramos Shares the Stories and Sounds Behind Her Solo Album "Guerrera"

Podcast Information:

• Title: All Of It
• Host: Alison Stewart
• Episode: Mireya Ramos Shares the Stories and Sounds Behind Her Solo Album Guerrera (Live from CR5)
• Release Date: August 13, 2025
• Description: ALL OF IT is a show about culture and its consumers, engaging thinkers, doers, makers, and creators to explore the what and why of their work.

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Introduction

In this episode of All Of It, hosted by Alison Stewart, listeners are introduced to Marea Ramos, a New York-based Latin Grammy-winning singer and violinist. Marea discusses her latest solo album, "Guerrera," providing insights into its creation, personal significance, and the cultural influences that shape her music.

Notable Quote:

“This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in Soho. Thank you very much for spending part of your day with us.”
– Alison Stewart [00:08]

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Album Overview: "Guerrera"

"Guerrera," translating to "Warrior," is Marea Ramos's third solo record. The album delves deep into her Dominican and Caribbean roots, showcasing her versatility across genres such as cumbia, salsa, mariachi, merengue, jazz, R&B soul, and hip hop. Collaborations with Grammy-winning Mexican American musician Adrian Quesada and the all-female mariachi band Flor de Toluache enrich the album's diverse soundscape.

Notable Quote:

“This album is one of the most personal albums I have released so far. It came out of a breakup and the process of this breakup… I need to feel empowered.”
– Marea Ramos [02:17]

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Personal Journey and Influences

Marea shares that "Guerrera" emerged from a significant personal upheaval—a breakup that spanned two to two and a half years. She emphasizes the album's role as a therapy session, helping her process emotions and empower herself and other women through her music.

Growing up in New York with a diverse cultural background—Dominican, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Californian—Marea's musical journey was profoundly influenced by her mother. Her mother, a passionate record collector and singer, instilled in her the belief that “music is for everyone, and there's not just one way of expressing it.”

Notable Quotes:

“Music is for everyone, and there's not just one way of expressing it. There's thousands of ways of expressing music.”
– Marea Ramos [10:13]

“I think that being in New York and just throwing myself out there to jam… listening to Regina Carter and Stephen Grappelli…”
– Marea Ramos [08:28]

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Songwriting and Themes

The songwriting process for "Guerrera" is a blend of melody and lyrics, reflecting Marea's innate melodic prowess and her collaborations with lyrically adept friends. She discusses specific tracks, such as "La Responsabilidad," co-written with her brother and Adrian Quesada, which underscores themes of accountability in relationships.

Marea also touches upon her aspiration to infuse different musical styles into her work, drawing inspiration from jazz legends like Ella Fitzgerald and modern artists like Erykah Badu and Mariah Carey. This fusion allows her to explore a range of emotions and technical vocal expressions within her music.

Notable Quote:

“I've always loved singing jazz… there’s so much that you can express with that.”
– Marea Ramos [21:03]

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Technical Challenges and Emotional Processing

Recording "Guerrera" was not without its challenges. Marea recounts moments where emotional strain from her breakup led to physical vocal strain, causing her to lose her voice temporarily. This period forced her to confront her emotions deeply, ultimately contributing to her healing process and the authentic emotional weight present in her music.

Notable Quote:

“I have to dig deep emotionally, but I also had to, like, really technically overcome that.”
– Marea Ramos [22:48]

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Performances and Collaborations

During the episode, Marea performs live with her band, featuring:

• Daniel Espilís (Guitar, Costa Rica)
• Sinue Padilla (Enla Leona Bass, Mexico)
• Trevor Tula (Trombone and Vocals)
• Balam (Drums)

She performs tracks like "Guerrera," "La Responsabilidad," and a special rendition of "Quiero Volver." These performances highlight her ability to blend traditional mariachi elements with contemporary sounds, creating a unique and captivating musical experience.

Notable Quote:

“This is Quiero Volver. I originally wrote this in the beginning of the breakup… it's a very special, trippy, more melancholic rendition.”
– Marea Ramos [25:18]

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Conclusion

Marea Ramos's "Guerrera" stands as a testament to her resilience, cultural heritage, and artistic versatility. Through heartfelt performances and candid discussions, she conveys the profound personal and cultural narratives that shape her music. All Of It successfully captures the essence of Marea's journey, offering listeners an intimate glimpse into the making of a powerful solo album.

Notable Closing Quote:

“I've been speaking with Marea. Her new album is called Guerrera. It is out now.”
– Alison Stewart [31:36]

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Final Thoughts

This episode of All Of It not only showcases Marea Ramos's musical talents but also underscores the therapeutic and empowering nature of art. Her ability to navigate personal struggles and channel them into relatable, vibrant music serves as an inspiration to listeners navigating their own challenges.

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Note: The timestamps correspond to the sections within the provided transcript excerpts.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in soho. Thank you very much for spending part of your day with us. I'm grateful that you're here on today's show. Aisha Muharra wrote for Parks and Rec and the Good Place. Now she has published her debut novel, it's called Loved One and she'll be here to discuss. And all week long we're talking about classic and today we're going to talk about one of modern literature's most transgressive. Lolita. Author Kaveh Akbar is here to talk about its legacy. Plus, we'll conclude our full bio conversation about the French artist Paul Gauguin with author Sue Prideaux. That's our plan. So let's get this started with musician Maria Ramos. New York based Latin Grammy winning singer and violinist Marea Ramos recently released a new album. It's titled Guerrera. It's her third solo record and an exploration of her Dominican and Caribbean roots. Known for versatility as an artist, Marea effortlessly transitions between cumbia, salsa, mariachi, merengue, jazz, R and B soul, and even some hip hop thrown in there. The new album also features collaborations with Grammy winning Mexican American musician Adrian Quesada, you may have heard him earlier this week, and the all female mariachi Flor de Toloce which Marea co founded back in 2008. Guerrera is out now and Marea joined us in studio to perform a few songs from the album before a string of shows in the Tri state area, including one in Weehawken tonight and three more in New York City from August 15th through the 17th. I spoke with her earlier this week, by the way. I had a little cold during the conversation, so if I sound a little different, that's why.

[Marea Ramos]

Mareia, welcome to all of it.

Thank you so much for having me.

[Alison Stewart]

The name of your album is Guerrera.

[Marea Ramos]

Which translates in English to Warrior. Tell us how you came upon that name.

Absolutely. This album is one of the most personal albums I have released so far. It came out of a breakup and a the process of this breakup for the past two years, two and a half years. And I just need it to feel empowered. And I know a lot of women at many times in their lives need to feel empowered, which is why I have Flor de Toluache, one of the main reasons why I have that project and with my music, I always keep that in mind. Not just to obviously empower myself, but empower other women. And so that's why I wrote that Song with a community of friends, artists, friends that love. Have a lot of love for me, and they knew what I was going through, and so they poured, as well, all of this power and empowerment and love into this song.

[Alison Stewart]

Did it help you process what you were going through?

[Marea Ramos]

Absolutely. This whole album was like a therapy session.

That's a subtitle, Therapy session. Guerra features Mr. Sonic. He's produced Santana, Ricky Martin, Shakira. What tone were you hoping to strike with this song?

I want it to be. Well, it's a. It's a cumbia. I love cumbias, which, actually, I'm. I'm gonna release next year, a whole cumbia album, so. Which is part of, like, a sequence of this album. And it's also about this process of mine, this personal process. And this particular song, I wanted it to be flirty and. And powerful and fun and kind of like a summer jam. And so I. All these things and all the beautiful and vulnerable elements that women or human beings have, and so I wanted to kind of embody all of that in this song.

Here's Marea with Guerrera. Sam.

Don'T.

Sa.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is Marea.

[Marea Ramos]

She's released a new solo album. It's called Guerrera. All right. For people who didn't see you, you reached over, you picked up a violin and decided to play in the middle of the song.

[Alison Stewart]

You're a violinist?

[Marea Ramos]

I am.

So the story goes that your dad was in a mariachi band, and then you saw somebody and you had a crush on him and he played the violin. Is that true?

That is true. How old were you? I was around 6 years old, and I started playing at 7.

And did you play classical?

Yes. I was trained with Suzuki method.

And how long of a learning curve was it for you to find the way that you play the violin, not the way the Suzuki method play the violin?

I think that being in New York and just throwing myself out there to jam and also listening to, like, Regina Carter and Stephen Grappelli, which have been my inspiration, I really wanted to sing with my violin as well, like through my violin, and I wanted to improvise. I really wanted to do that. And so my goal was to learn how to do that. And I just kind of went out there and I would jam with salsa bands, and whoever allowed me to play, I was there. I was ready. And then playing mariachi, too, you know, I didn't know the arrangements. Even though I grew up listening to mariachi, I ended up playing in a mariachi band in New York City for many, many Years prior to Florida Lou Ace. And I remember my mom. I was nervous at first, and my mom was like, you know, just listen to the trumpet and try to, like, follow the trumpet and harmonize with the trumpet. And so I was like, oh, that's a good idea. And so I would jam with the trumpet, and little by little, I went learning all the violent parts of mariachi, but I would improvise as well in the mariachi.

It sounds like your mom was a really good influence on you.

Absolutely. She was a record collector and a beautiful singer and just so passionate about music and the stories behind the songs and the artists itself and their lives. She, like, really dreamt. Dreamt of. Of living this life one day. And she didn't get to, but she definitely got to go on tour with and was a big influence in the repertoire that we chose for Floreto Luace and a big influence for me, obviously. And I just love how passionate she is about music.

What's a piece of advice that your mom gave you that sticks with you to this day? It could be about anything. It could be about music. It could be about life, about love.

She would always say that music is for everyone, and there's not just one way of expressing it. There's thousands of ways of expressing music. And music doesn't particularly need to come from one place. Not just emotionally, but a physical place as well. I think that a lot of people in traditional circles tend to want to, like, close their mind and think that something comes from one. One specific little corner, and it doesn't. If it wasn't for the fusion or the different people coming from different parts of the world coming together for whatever reason in history, we wouldn't have all the traditions that we have. And so I think. But knowing that really opened this huge window to the world, and my approach to music is that way. And it has allowed me to connect with a lot of people from all over the world and to collaborate with them. And, you know, music is truly the universal language.

Maria, when did you decide, I can do this for a living? I'm gonna be a musician for a living?

Definitely. My mom pushed me to do that. She was like, quit being a waitress and just do it. You're so good at it. And she really so me in this path, and I love. Obviously, I love music. And I started playing mariachi and making way more money doing mariachi than way to sing. And I was having way more fun, and. And I just started connecting with musicians in New York City, especially in the Latin community. And it was so, so fulfilling. And so I. I did that. I worked very hard to connect with everyone in New York. I mean, this is back in early 2000s, so it was a little bit different. There was a lot more music happening in terms of, like, live music everywhere, and it was exciting to be a part of that in New York City.

When did you believe in yourself that you could do it?

I think. Well, obviously, Flor de Toluacho. When we first recorded our first album, we submitted the album without really knowing anything about the Grammys or the Recording Academy. And we just kind of did it to see what happened, you know, why not? A girl can dream, you know. So we submitted the album, and we got nominated. Nobody knew who we were outside of New York City. We were an independent band. It took us two years to record this album with money from gigs, and we had a lot of, like, a lot of things went wrong in the process, and it was just so gratifying. But also it was a sign, you know, that people really connected to our music and that understood what the project was about and what we had to say and how important it is that the women's voice and stories are out there more and more. Not just the mariachi, but in the music industry.

What did you like about being part of a mariachi band?

I loved. I love the way that mariachi just kind of implements itself to people's homes and very intimate moments, and you're, like, instantly connecting with this family that you've never even met, and you're playing in their house for a quinceanera or wedding or a very special moment. I love the fact that people really do transport to their. Wherever they came from, because mariachi is so such a big part of Latin American culture. And a lot of people that are obviously here, immigrating here, sometimes can't go back. And so music brings them back for a minute and brings them a lot of joy. It connects them to family, to culture. And I love that about mariachi and traditional music.

Being in a band, it's about being collaborative, it's about working with others, but you're on your own now, doing your own thing. How does that compare?

Well, Flor de Toluache is such a specific brand and concepts, and we've been around for 17, about 17 years. And I obviously, I am Dominican, I'm Mexican, raised in Puerto Rico, born in California. I've been in New York for a long time. I have a lot to say, say I've experienced a lot in music, and I didn't want it to stop there. I love and I continue to collaborate in Florida, but even though this is my solo project, it's still a collaboration. Everyone in my band is my friend and almost my like family. And we've known each other for a long, long time, most of us. And it's still meeting new friends and collaborating, making music together. This particular album was with the help of and support of a lot. And like I said, it was the therapy session with them. They were there holding my hand through the whole process. And it's beautiful thing about music, it brings people together.

And since you mentioned your band, you want to introduce the group that's in the studio?

Absolutely. I have Daniel Espilis de Costa Rica on guitar. We have Sinue Padilla de Mexico, Enla Leona which is the bass from song. And we have one of my bestest friends, Trevor Tula on trombone and vocals and Balam on drums.

All right, we're gonna hear this group and you perform your next song. What are you gonna play for us?

We're gonna do La Responzabilidad and a funny story about this and fun fact is that this song I wrote with my brother and Adrian Quezada for Boleros Yi derikos dos but I didn't make the album and so I kindly asked Adrian if I could use it for my own album. And it was such a perfect song for me because it speaks about taking accountability in a relationship. And it's based on Jose Jose el Triste. And I just love that song so much. So I really, really channeled Jose Jose in this song La Responza vidad. And I wrote this with my brother, Velcro mc, who's an amazing artist that I admire so much.

This is Mirea.

La Sam giving.

[Alison Stewart]

That was Maria, sorry, Marea, singer, violinist and co founder of the Latin Grammy winning all female mariachi band Flor de Toloce. We'll have more after a quick break. This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. We're back with more of my conversation with singer and violinist Maria Ramos about her new album titled Guerrera.

[Marea Ramos]

You have just this beautiful strong voice, but I'm wondering, where did you find an opportunity on this album to expand it, to try something different?

I've always loved singing jazz and I like how singers like even Mariah Carey or Erykah Badu, Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston, I love how they really have this control of creating a lot of emotions with different colors and of in their voice technically. And there's so much that you can express with that. And I've always been drawn to being able to do that, to express that. And so I. In this album, I played around a lot with that, with my vibrato, my technique, everything I've learned throughout all these years. Not just the mariachi, but also singing salsa, jazz, Brazilian music, all kinds of music. I even did a song with my brother who co wrote this song, and I rapped a little bit with him in the middle of the song, which is a dream come true. Because, you know, my alter ego is actually a gangster rapper. I always tell him, oh, really?

[Alison Stewart]

Okay.

[Marea Ramos]

I love hip hop. So I always tell him, you know, if I ever do a hip hop album, I want to be a gangster rapper. So I got to live a little bit of that dream in the song. And on the album Guerrera, it's called La Llama. It's also produced by Adrian Quesada. And yeah, so I got to play around with different colors, different emotions, and pour all these things that I was living in the moment and through these songs in this album.

What was the hardest part? That you had to stretch your voice. You really had to dig deep.

This is. This song. La Responada is one of those songs that when I was recording it, I was actually. I spent last year and the year before that that going through this whole process of healing and being very. A lot of times being sad and, you know, when you're going through a breakup, one. One day in 24 hours, you can be extremely joyous, extremely happy, and then all of a sudden, you could be extremely sad, and then you could be angry, and all these emotions run through. Through your heart and your mind and take over. So I lost my voice. Voice a lot of times and. Yeah. And I think it was really an emotional thing because I've. That's never happened to me. And even though I was touring a lot and I was a lot more tired than usual, I was just emotionally really in a very heavy place. And when I was recording this song, I not just had to dig. Dig deep emotionally, but I also had to, like, really technically overcome that. So, yeah, it was just a lot. This album carries a lot of that.

Do you think your voice just gave out because it needed a minute to rest? You needed a minute to rest?

Possibly. And I also needed to heal, and I needed to be in a better place. And I did take the time to do that, and I kid you not, January 1st of this year, I was like, something clicked, and I. I really consciously made the decision. I cannot go another year feeling this way because I have a lot of wonderful people around me, a lot of beautiful things to look up to, and I should be able to enjoy those things and be grateful. And I wanted to feel that, and I wanted to be in that place.

When you're composing a song, what comes first? Does the melody come first? Does a lyric that you pop into your notes on your phone? What's first?

Both. Both of them. Yeah. But I'm mostly a melodic person, and I tend to gravitate to other people that are more lyrically quicker and. And better at writing songs. And, like, Trevor is one of those people. Sinwe, my brother, I collaborate a lot with them because they get what I do, and we come from very similar taste of music, and I think that. And that's why collaborations like that happen so organically.

What's the last song you're going to perform for us?

This is Quiero Bolver. I originally wrote this in the beginning. Beginning of the breakup. And it was when I was feeling that I wanted to go back to this relationship, even though I was sure of this decision I made. And originally it was a ranchera that I wrote for my previous album, which is a wonderful project. It's a fusion of country and ranchera with the band the Poor Choices. And Trevor is actually playing on that album as well, and he tours with us. And this rendition that I recorded on my new album is a very special, trippy, more melancholic rendition with King Javius, which is an amazing guitarist from Puerto Rico. But this we're gonna do like the original version sa better either. Sa Sam of all the.

I'm not supposed to clap, but I'm gonna. That was amazing.

Thank you so much.

I've been speaking with Marea.

[Alison Stewart]

Her new album is called Guerrera.

[Marea Ramos]

It is out now. Thank you so much for being with us.

Thank you for having us.

[Ira Flatow]

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