La Santa Cecilia

Hailing from Los Angeles, La Santa Cecilia functions as a fresh Latin rock ensemble whose sound pulls from worldwide influences by weaving Pan-American rhythms such as Colombian and Mexican cumbia, bossa nova, rhumba, bolero, and tango together with rock, soul, R&B, ska, jazz, and even klezmer. As children of immigrants, the group released its widely praised debut album Treinta Dias in 2013, presenting an energetic yet deeply personal portrait of Latino experience through the hit single “Ice el Hielo,” which emerged as an anthem for the fourteen million undocumented residents of the United States and helped secure the band a Grammy for Best Latin Rock Album. In 2017 La Santa Cecilia delivered Amar y Vivir, an audio-visual collection of covers captured live to tape on streets, plazas, cantinas, and theaters throughout Mexico City. The 2019 self-titled mini-album paid tribute to three bandmembers’ fathers who had died within the preceding eighteen months, closing with a version of the Bessie Smith blues standard “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.” Two years afterward the band issued Quiero Verte Feliz, whose title track was cut in tandem with singer-songwriter Lila Downs.

Named for the patron saint of musicians, La Santa Cecilia formed in 2007 as a sextet whose original lineup included guitarist Gloria Estrada, accordionist and requintero Pepe Carlos, bassist Alex Bendaña, percussionist Miguel “Oso” Ramirez, drummer Hugo Vargas, and lead vocalist Marisol “La Marisoul” Hernandez. All the members were either born in or brought to the United States at a young age. Although they absorbed traditional Latin styles at home, they also encountered American pop culture sounds—rock, soul, blues, jazz, funk, punk, ska, reggae, and additional global idioms—broadcast on radio and heard in local neighborhoods. The musicians played block parties, bars, coffee houses, and occasional support slots for visiting acts as well as festivals.

In 2009 the group recorded its self-titled debut EP. Beyond strong songwriting and performances, the packaging signaled another distinctive trait: the desire to engage directly with their community through “painting parties” at which the band played while friends and fans hand-painted covers on recycled newsprint, wrapping paper, card stock, and other materials, ensuring every copy became a unique art object. Regional attention grew, leading to local airplay, additional live invitations, and festival appearances. The group’s fiery concerts built a devoted following, and tracks from the EP appeared in the cable series Weeds, the documentary Re-Encounters about Oaxacan artist Alejandro Santiago, and other outlets.

La Santa Cecilia’s second EP, Noche y Citas, arrived in 2010 to further critical notice and launched tours first in Mexico and later across North America. The third EP mixed four covers with one original, ranging from Gloria Jones’ “Tainted Love” and U2’s “One” to the late Lhasa de Sela’s “Love Came Here” and Caifanes’ “Viento,” underscoring both versatility and commitment to diverse repertoire.

As popularity expanded domestically and internationally, the band signed with Universal and reduced its core to La Marisoul, Bendaña, Carlos, and Ramirez. Their debut full-length, Treinta Dias, came out in May 2013, debuted as Hot Shot Debut on Billboard’s Latin Pop Albums chart, and captured the Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative Album in February 2014. The musicians hit the road for Bonnaroo, SXSW, and other festivals, sharing stages with Elvis Costello, Stevie Wonder, and Los Lobos. Less than a month after the Grammy they released Someday New, whose single “Cumbia Morada” charted immediately; a cover of the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” also succeeded, and another take of “Ice el Hielo” appeared on the disc and was featured in the FX series The Bridge.

La Santa Cecilia maintained an active touring schedule, led songwriting workshops, and was chosen as one of two openers for Café Tacuba’s twenty-fifth-anniversary tour while establishing itself as an international headliner before returning to the studio. In August 2015 the band issued the English-language pre-release single “I Won’t Cry for You,” followed in December by “Nunca Mas (Never Again).” The full-length Buenaventura appeared in February 2016 and included guest contributions from Enrique Bunbury, Fito Páez, members of Los Lobos, and the Latino Arts Strings Program of Milwaukee.

Deepening their partnership with longtime producer Sebastian Krys, the musicians joined his Rebelon Entertainment label and embarked on their most ambitious project to date. Having begun as a Los Angeles street band performing rancheras, boleros, and Spanish- and English-language pop, soul, and rock numbers, they chose to mirror those origins by recording in Mexico City’s plazas, parks, bars, and theaters. Each of the twelve tracks—eleven covers and one original—was cut live to tape with an accompanying video. The repertoire honored their roots through classic rancheras, boleros, and mariachis by Violeta Parra, Consuelo Velázquez (composer of the standard “Bésame Mucho”), and Tomás Méndez, alongside contemporary material from Café Tacvba, Juan Gabriel, and Smokey Robinson. Collaborators included Chilean singer-songwriter Mon Laferte, Argentine-Mexican singer Noel Schajris, Eugenia León, and rockabilly group Rebel Cats. Three videos previewed Amar y Vivir on the same April 2017 day, among them the title track (written by Velázquez) featuring Mexico City rock band Comisario Pantera. The complete project appeared in mid-May, reached number twenty-eight on the Top Latin Albums chart, and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Pop Album.

La Santa Cecilia returned in 2019 with a self-titled full-length, again produced by Sebastian Krys. Written amid loss, the album reflected the deaths of three of the four bandmembers’ fathers over the prior eighteen months. Its first single and video, “Winning,” arrived in July; mixed by Grammy winner Dave Pensado, the track offered an ’80s-inspired surf-rocker addressing how early-twenty-first-century life often favors online existence over lived experience, substituting clickbait for genuine reactions to tragedy, disaster, and justice struggles. The set closed with an inventive reading of the Bessie Smith classic “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” and was released in mid-October.

While touring into early 2020, the band was sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic. They resurfaced in October 2021 with the single “Quiero Verte Feliz,” recorded in an uncommon collaboration with singer Lila Downs; the song served as the final and title track of the eight-song album that followed in November.