Writing for Artists and Records: Liner Notes, Bios, Promotional Materials
I am committed to carrying the torch of the liner notes tradition, and happy to commit to the revival of this art that has coincided with the international resurgence of vinyl.
I was nominated for a Grammy for my album notes for the 2019 Cuban Jam Sessions box set (Craft Recordings), and have written notes for major and independent label recordings including Colombian superstar Carlos Vives’ Cumbiana and Cumbiana II, Dominican singer-songwriter Alex Ferreira’s Tanda, and the re-release of Rita Indiana’s cult Latin alternative masterpiece El Juidero, for which I compiled an in-studio oral history from memories told to me by the album’s musicians.
Through producer Edwin Erazo and his new Media Isla label, I’ve been writing about some enormously talented and creative young artists in Mexico City and their recording projects. These genre-fluid, past-is-present musicians pair their deep knowledge and commitment to Latin America’s musical history with prodigious talent and natural-born cool.
One of them is Silvana Estrada, whose bio I wrote in advance of her album Marchita.
Liner notes and other materials for more artists that I’ve been recently commissioned to write are coming soon.
Silvana Estrada sings from down deep, telling her soulful coming-of-age stories in a voice that embraces the legacy of Latin American song and carries it into the 21st Century.
Called “one of Mexico’s greatest young talents and vocalists” by KCRW’s José Galvan, Silvana, who is 23 years old, is the new voice of a movement of independent women artists who have characterized Latin Alternative music over the past decade. She has also been recognized internationally, performing and recording with artists including Uruguayan singer/songwriter Jorge Drexler, Chile’s Mon Laferte, Catalan singer Silvia Perez Cruz and Spanish group Love of Lesbian, as well as Natalia Lafourcade and other well-known Mexican artists.
A multi-instrumentalist, Silvana most often plays the Venezuelan cuatro guitar, whose small body and warm sound suits her hands and synchs with the rolling variations of her vocals. Raised singing Mexican son jarocho and baroque choir music, and schooled in jazz, she is an iconoclast who dismisses musical trends for a personal, poetic style that goes straight to the heart of listeners.
“My music is made of who I am,” she says.
Silvana grew up in a house where not only music, but instruments, were made. Both of her parents are luthiers, and a path was worn to their home in Coatepec, a mountain town in Veracruz, by the musicians who arrived daily to commission a new violin or cello, or have their instruments repaired.
“When I wasn’t hearing musicians playing snippets of classical pieces to try out the sound of the instruments, I was listening to my parents singing traditional Mexican songs or Latin American popular music,” she says of her childhood. While as a little girl she “rebelled” by insisting on playing the piano instead of the viola, she never doubted becoming a musician. “To me, being a singer or composer was just a normal job.”
By 13, she was performing in local bars, chaperoned by her parents. Her artistic family and their friends lived on the edge of Coatepec, a town in a region known for its picturesque coffee farms and rivers, but also for drug violence. When, at just 16, Silvana was accepted into the university jazz program in Xalapa, Veracruz’s capital, her parents rented an apartment there for her and her older brother so that they could avoid driving home on the highway after dark (her brother, the “oddball” of the musical family, is a software designer).
Inspired in her younger years by Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, Silvana had mastered the jazz standards. As a teen, she found her own voice.
“When you’re 16 and you sing ‘Night & Day’ you’re like, ok, but what else is there?” She turned away from the English-language canon and started singing her own songs in the style of Latin American folk, “deep and loud, as if I never had a microphone.”
At home one weekend, she picked up a cuatro that belonged to her father and was “infatuated.”
“It has such a beautiful sound,” she says. “Holding it is like an embrace.” Her father made her the cuatro that she currently plays.
While attending a seminar for jazz students in Guadalajara, Silvana met guitarist Charlie Hunter, known for his collaborations with artists including Frank Ocean D’Angelo Norah Jones. After hearing her songs, he suggested they record an album. They turned her parent’s guest house into a make-shift studio and made Lo Sagrado, a collaborative album that included her first recorded compositions. A trip to New York followed, during which she plunged into the city’s music scene, playing with drummer Antonio Sánchez, Snarky Puppy’s Michael League and other acclaimed musicians known for their vanguard approach to jazz.
Silvana went back to Mexico, moving to Mexico City while she waited for a visa in preparation for a longer New York residency and an extensive U.S. tour. But it turned out that the current U.S. administration’s immigration policy would determine a new direction for her career. Her application for a visa was denied.
The rejection propelled her to focus inward; she dug deeper into her roots and discovered a newfound confidence in her pure desire to “tell stories and make beautiful melodies.” She was welcomed by Mexico City’s active community of indie musicians and fans, sharing the stage with Julieta Venegas and David Aguilar, among others. Such was the response to her music that she embarked on a sold-out solo national tour concluding with a concert at the capital’s Teatro de la Ciudad. She toured Spain, Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay, and triumphantly returned to New York, invited by Spotify.
The intimate, idiosyncratic songs on her 2018 EP Primeras Canciones, including “Te Guardo,” “Al Norte” and “Saber Olvidar,” have brought her an international following, and a reputation as an artist to watch.
“I’m making the music that I honestly want to do,” says Silvana, who can seem as susceptible to the power of her voice as her audiences are. “I sing my songs and I feel good. And the miraculous thing is that they make the people who hear them feel good too.”