Jeovany Tzilin Gomez
Contributing Writer
Mexican folk singer Natalia Lafourcade tells stories through the form of her new album “Cancionera” (translated as “Songbook”). She lets the listener enjoy her experiences containing slow sorrowful tunes and songs to dance along.
“Cancionera,” Lafourcade’s eleventh studio album, was released April 24. The happy sounds of the cumbia songs bring the nostalgic feeling of celebration, and the slow folk songs invite the listener to feel vulnerability or sorrow.
Along with the album’s release, Lafourcade released a music video series on YouTube: one music video for each song except for the acoustic versions of “Amor Clandestino” and “Cancionera.”
Similar to Lafourcade’s previous album “De Todas las Flores,” she incorporates the live sound of wooden and string instruments, such as the trumpet, the violin, and the guitar to add on to the organic aspect of the album.
In order to explore the nostalgic colors of the album, let’s analyze some of the songs’ poetic sensations.
“Apertura Cancionera” (“Songbook Opening”) is an instrumental that gives the listener a taste of the general sound of the album. It begins with soft presses of the piano and gradually intensifies with majestic violins.
In the title track, Lafourcade is pleading to the songbook as if it was a person, telling them to sing her songs of having fun on the beach and finding mountain views. In other words, she misses simpler times and wants to see the world’s beauty through her memories.
“Cocos en la Playa” (“Coconuts at the Beach”) is a salsa-inspired song with a tropical sound from the addition of the flute and drums. It’s a tune that gives you the sense of home and freedom by living a simple life as the speaker sells coconuts at the beach. Lafourcade is promoting the idea of living the moment, singing, “Se terminaron las fotografías / Solo se permiten los ‘buenos días’” (“The photos are done / We only permit the ‘good mornings’”).
“Como Quisiera Quererte” (“How I Would Like To Love You”), featuring El David Aguilar, is a typical love song that contains natural imagery resembling the desire of loving someone. Both Lafourcade and Aguilar express their desire of escaping their troubles with love by singing, “Cómo quisiera que el viento / Se lleve lo que sufrí” (“How I would like the wind / To take away what made me suffer”). Lafourcade and Aguilar are pleading with nature or the natural force to unite them because they cannot be apart any longer.
“Amor Clandestino” (“Clandestine Love”), featuring Israel Fernández, is a bolero song about a love affair and fighting for a love that is real but unofficial. Fernández explains how they need to overcome guilt and not be ashamed to obtain authentic love by singing, “Y aunque la culpa me consume hasta los huesos / Es sencillito, estoy aquí porque te quiero” (“And even if the guilt consumes my bones / Simply, I’m here because I love you”).
“Mascaritas de Cristal” (“Little Crystal Masks”) is very direct and hard-hitting, where Lafourcade speaks with someone who hides their authentic self behind artificial beauty and calls them a liar. Lafourcade sings, “Si te sientas a mi mesa no me cuentes de medallas / No me traigas regalitos que no sirven para nada” (“If you sit at my table, don’t tell me about your medals / Don’t bring me gifts that serve nothing”). Lafourcade is telling the person to take off their mask because no one will truly love them for being someone who wants to present their “beautiful” side that contains their successes and not their vulnerability.
“La Bruja (Versión Cancionera)” (“The Witch (Song Version)”) is a dark folk tune where Lafourcade tells a story of meeting a witch. The tone of the song is ominous and slow when she says, “Ay, qué bonito es volar a las tres de la mañana” (“Oh, how beautiful it is to fly at three in the morning”). The song really highlights the uncertainty of reality when someone, like a witch, influences another to be someone they are not.
“Luna Creciente” (“Crescent Moon”), featuring Hermanos Gutiérrez, is a sorrowful tune that displays the need to be free from the world. Lafourcade pleads to the crescent moon to remove her solitude as she sings, “Tengo palabras quebradas / Y una voz que quiere volar” (“I have broken words / And a voice that wants to fly”). The moon personification is commonly used in Latin folk songs as a way to find a cure for loneliness in a busy world. This song is a majestic example of the motif.
“Cancionera” is another gateway to Mexican folk music with different genres such as bolero and cumbia in the Mexican perspective. The songs can be compared to older folk songs that use traditional sounds and songwriting styles — a sensation that Lafourcade recreated in this album. Overall, the songs present nostalgia in the most organic and traditional way, so all listeners, young and old, can enjoy what Lafourcade is conveying.