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- [00:00]
Commercial Announcer
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- [01:08]
Alison Stewart
This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC Studios in soho. Thank you for sharing part of your day with us. I'm really grateful that you're here on today's show. Spring marks the start of moving season and two rioters for Wirecutter join us on tips on how to make the process easier. Plus Tavern on the Greens executive chef and co owner join us talk about their new cookbook. Plus author and musicologist Anna Harwell Cholenza will be here to talk about her new book on the Record, which is about songs that inspired political change. That's the plan. So let's get this started with more music from Natalia La Farcade. That was a title track from revered Latin American musician Natalia La Farcade's Grammy Award winning album Cansanera released in 2025. It builds upon her reputation for bringing a distinct sensibility to the traditional folk sound from her hometown of Veracruz, Mexico. Her 12th album also reflects a sound returning to what some called the intimacy of her voice and guitar, and she used analog technology from the 1950s. Natalia La Farcade is kicking off the North American leg of her tour with two concerts she has at the Brooklyn Academy of music, that's Bam on Friday, April 10 and Saturday, April 11. She was supposed post perform at Bam back in October, but rescheduled because she was embracing a New stage in her life, motherhood. But here she is today to discuss with me the album and its inspirations. Natalia, welcome back.
- [03:15]
Natalia La Farcade
Thank you so much.
- [03:17]
Alison Stewart
You've mentioned the song Cantianera came to you one morning before your 40th birthday. What were you reflecting on during this time?
- [03:27]
Natalia La Farcade
I think I was reflecting about all the things that would come next. It's a moment. You get to a lot of reflections, and that's natural, right? So I was just having, like, this moment of reflection myself and trying to find those important things not to forget and to keep in mind. And then this. The song came out. This lyric that is mostly about the animal, I think is the part of the soul and taking care of the soul and the inner spirit, you know, to keep it alive, to keep the authenticity for life and to keep being true to my real desire in life.
- [04:21]
Alison Stewart
Why were you having those reflections?
- [04:24]
Natalia La Farcade
I think. I guess it just happens whenever you are about to. To. To start a new decade. And I think that's. That's something natural for me. Music has always been something that helps me a lot to express myself. You know, I use the songs and the music as a diary, as a constant, you know, like a way of expression of the life, you know, the experiences that I go through. And so I was. I guess I was just, you know, that. That was a question that my father made for me when exactly that. The day of my birthday. He was asking, like, okay, now how are you going to use the next four years of your life? I. I guess it's just a point when you are in. In the. In the middle of. Of your path, it feels pretty much like something like that. Like you're in the middle of something. Some. Some. Something that has to do with the time in. In your life. And yeah, for me, it was also a moment in my life that. That was good for, you know, like. Like cleaning up a little of everything. Relationships, literally, the house, different things. You know, it came to. To be a point in my life when I was asking if everything was gonna go the same way it was happening or there will be changes. And after the. The day they were changes, like actually, like, I became a mother and you know, like, yeah, like, things. Many things happen that I wasn't expecting. So the song is. Is. It means a lot to me. That song was a very special moment for me. And also the album became that album that marks that part of my life, you know, Like, I think you wrote
- [06:40]
Alison Stewart
this great essay in the New York Times about the album, and you said, I found the key to sing my truth without adornment, without masks. How has your relationship to music shifted over the past few years?
- [06:58]
Natalia La Farcade
I think it has become my companion, you know, my master, my. So many things. For me the music is something really special. To see what music does to people, it's. That's very special for me. And I have, I have found that in order to really connect, which is one of the things that I love the most, the connection, you know, connection with, with the instrument, with my voice, with people's hearts, like for me that is really, really important to go deeper and beyond, you know, just singing. It's more about like really making a connection. I have felt that music always is telling me like you need to be true in order to find that way of communication, you know. So in, in my case, like after so many years working with the music and in the music industry, obviously there's a moment you. You wonder many things, you know, and. And for me it was more about going back. Like I always talk about, I. I always use this metaphor of going back to the inner garden that's inside our bodies and our universes and, and self being as. As taking care of that inner garden. So, so for me that, that was yeah like the reconnection to my truth.
- [08:52]
Alison Stewart
This is a little bit of a harder question. You brought it up. How have the changes in the music industry affected you in any way?
- [09:01]
Natalia La Farcade
I think it affects a lot in the terms that there's so many things that music industry demands nowadays. Right. Like we. As an artist, I am supposed to do so many things that is not the music is not the part of the creativity that that is that inside the room, you know, it's more like outside you need to accomplish and you need to yeah. Give so, so much. And sometimes that giving is not precisely something that is. It's your thing. It's more that for others or for. For all the rhythms in. In the. In the industry that is not really you. So I don't know, it's just something that I have felt and I, I have been very careful to this matter and to this reality and trying to take care of what's in my inner world and what's more like in there for real than versus you know, like losing myself into so many things that are there to be done supposedly. But it's not really me. So I don't know, you might get confused. So I just try to be very, very careful not to lose careness about what's really important for me as a singer, as a creator, as a woman. As a human being and your music.
- [11:03]
Alison Stewart
So let's get back to it. By the way, my guest is Grammy award winning singer songwriter Natalia La Farcade. She's with me to talk about her latest album ahead of her concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of music. Friday, April 10and Saturday, April 11. We're going to listen to Mascaritas de Cristal, which I believe translates to crystal masks.
- [11:22]
Natalia La Farcade
Am I right? Yes.
- [11:23]
Alison Stewart
All right. What are the masks symbolize in this song?
- [11:28]
Natalia La Farcade
It's a very. I love the song and I wrote this song in a moment when it's those very little moments when you aren't expecting that a song will come out. So I. I love that fact about this one because it came out a day and it felt like there was this me talking to me. You know, like when you feel like you're having a conversation to yourself. And then I noticed that we all have many different versions of our own Persona and we have those conversations constantly. Like we. That's a very intimate moment. Do we have those conversations at home or we could be thinking on. On the street, whatever. And there's this constantly conversation to ourselves. And that's Mascarita. Cristal. Mascarita. It means that me. That part of myself saying like I am not interested at this point of your life to see anything else. But you're true. And that's the only care I care about for like to see from you. Like, please don't. Don't be like rushing in order to be someone else in order to. I don't know how to explain it, but I just want you to be honest and. And very authentic Persona. That. That's the version of you that I want to see, but it's actually me talking to me. So in the album I. I played a lot to this alter ego that came out and that has so many aspects about my. My Persona that probably went hidden in the closet that. That I was. I'm gonna play with this. Aspects about my. My way of being, but that maybe didn't show those aspects before and see what happens. And it actually became a really fun game for me to. To use it as inspiration, as a. An exercise for my music and for the way I was doing things at the studio and also the lyrics.
- [14:06]
Alison Stewart
Well, let's listen to Mascaritas de Cristal from Natalia La Farcate. Natalia, you recorded this album at the Sony studios in Mexico City, which uses. Yeah. Which is. This uses like 1950s technology. How did recording the album help you be more creative?
- [15:31]
Natalia La Farcade
I think in this case was A very creative moment for all of us. I was working with this producer, Adam Jodorowsky. We're very, very close friends and all the people that were involved into the album, like so talented people, you know, like, I loved them so much. Like so many incredible musicians and the arranger and also like the, the engineers. The. The challenge for us was to record the music live, one take, not having addition of the music. Actually we mix the album right immediately, like right away. I see after we record the music and all. Analog, analog. And that's something that I really wanted to experience. When you have this, this kind of challenge, it's. I love it because the. The presence, the. The level of presence that you have from everybody is very, very high level of presence. And I love that, you know, like there's this adrenalina in the air that is this energy of. Okay, we have one take and probably it's going to be four or maybe five takes because of the. The Sinta, the tape, it doesn't last more than that. So it's only 20, 25 minutes. So I love that because Child bring all people together. We were doing the videos at the same time, so we had the cameras and the instruments. It felt really alive, you know.
- [17:35]
Alison Stewart
Yeah. The visuals for this album are. Are interesting. Tell me a little bit about the visuals.
- [17:42]
Natalia La Farcade
I wanted to make the. I wanted it to feel as this imagination part of the Cancionera. You know, we. When we. As an artist, we are in the studio, like, I guess it happens for all of us doing this. Like when you're writing a song, when you're recording a song, your imagination is very on, you know, very. Like you're. You're imagining different things. And I love this aspect because nobody can see that. Like, you just very into your thing. And I wanted the videos to feel like that universe of the. Of Cancionera, you know, like happening and alive at the same time. As she's recording an album, so she imagines that she's the director of the orchestra, but actually she's not. And she imagines she's like watching herself in this place in Veracruz, but she's actually in this. At the studio, she's recording an album and then there's different things happening and. And yeah, so I wanted to have to have that game, you know, and not so perfect done, you know, I wanted to show the. The probably the mistakes that will happen and not taking too much care of everything to look perfect because that's the normal behavior we will do when we are at the studio. We try to hide those kind of things. And for me, this time was very important to show how everything is so delicate and, yeah, like, natural.
- [19:53]
Alison Stewart
Let's play another song from Cancanera. This is Cocos and La Playa. What's the song about?
- [20:03]
Natalia La Farcade
Coco Sana Playa. It's a song I wrote a long time ago. It's about a vacation, holidays, basically.
- [20:16]
Alison Stewart
Right.
- [20:19]
Natalia La Farcade
Yeah. I'm having fun and being relaxed and just not being so worried about productivity, you know.
- [20:29]
Alison Stewart
Let's listen to Cocos in a La Playa. That puts you in a good mood. My guest, Natalia La Farcade. We're talking about her latest album, Cancionera, ahead of her concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Friday, April 10, and Saturday, April 11. You've become a mom.
- [21:46]
Natalia La Farcade
Yes.
- [21:47]
Alison Stewart
This is exciting. Congratulations, first of all.
- [21:50]
Natalia La Farcade
Thank you so much.
- [21:51]
Alison Stewart
What have you learned about yourself in the process of caring for a newborn in the past few months?
- [21:58]
Natalia La Farcade
It's been the best. The best, the best. And I don't know how to explain it in words. Really huge. I wasn't expecting this. You know, I actually thought that being a mama wasn't going to be for me. And then I got the surprise at this moment, you know, exactly the moment in my life when I am saying, okay, life is about being through to yourself and keep growing your soul and be honest to you and like, those kind of things. And then, yeah, it's been the best time, you know, I am so grateful. I have a great, great, the best boy, obviously, like, I like every mama, I would say, like, my baby is the best. And, yeah, learning, you know, learning many things. Now I'm going back to the stage, which I feel like the stage is my second house. You know, being in a concert, giving music to people and making those connections that I love is. That's. That's one of the most important things in my life. Now I have a new priority and I love that, you know, like, the baby traveling with us for the first time. And that part, for me, it's very, very important, you know, like, I think not to, you know, like, to make this connection to both universals, the personal and also the universal. That that's my work and my passion. So that makes me very, very happy to know that I'm gonna be sharing those two sides with my people and my audience.
- [24:08]
Alison Stewart
I've been talking to Natalia La Farcade about her new Grammy winning album, Cancionera. She's kicking off the North American leg of her tour with two concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music at BAM on Friday April 10th and Saturday April April 11th thank you for being with us.
- [24:24]
Natalia La Farcade
Thank you so much for this time.
- [24:26]
Commercial Announcer
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- [24:57]
Natalia La Farcade
121234 Gimme a break gimme a break Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar Gimme a break give me a break Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar the chocolate crispy taste gonna make your day and wherever you go you hear Give me a break give me a break Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar have a break, have a Kit Kat.