Natalia Lafourcade, critically acclaimed Mexican pop rock singer, astounded an audience with fiery performances and ardent implorations for environmental justice Thursday, Oct. 3, at the Plaza Theatre in downtown El Paso.
The appearance was part of Lafourcade’s 2019 tour across the United States, which she officially kicked off July 14 in Saratoga, California.
“Cobrará vida en 17 lugares distintos donde compartiremos mi repertorio musical y temas de compositores a quienes he rendido homenaje en este tiempo,” Lafourcade said in an Instagram post announcing the tour. (“It will come to life in 17 different places where we will share my musical repertoire and tributes to composers that I have paid homage to.”)
The concert opened with the “son jarocho” folk tunes of her song “Mi Tierra Veracruzana,” where Lafourcade appeared before a roaring audience.
Her next two songs were “Soledad y el Mar” and “Qué He Sacado Con Quererte,” all three songs part of her Latin Grammy award-winning seventh studio album “Musas: Un Homenaje al Folclore Latinoamericano en Manos de Los Macorinos, Vol 1.”
“She is very powerful for the single woman, especially the woman who has had her heart broken. She empowers women to not give up on love,” said Soraya Holguin, who attended the concert, “I really enjoy her music, her talent is just amazing. She was in New York just recently, about a few weeks ago, and she has an amazing following of Latinas.”
Holguin, the finance director for a local car dealer, said she has been following Lafourcade for the past seven years and that her favorite song is “Hasta La Raíz.”
Throughout the night, the Mexican icon of folk rock performed several songs from her entire discography, including a semi-acapella version of “Amor, Amor de Mis Amores” that she intimately sang with the audience.
Midway through Lafourcade’s performance, her backup band ceased to play while the spotlight fixed solely on her as she bestowed upon the crowd her deepest thoughts on current events around the world.
“A todos ustedes que están aquí, quiero decirles que estamos pasando por un momento muy cabrón. Hay un chingo de problemas pero uno muy importante es que nuestra casa, nuestro aire, la parte más importante de vivir es respirar el aire,” Lafourcade said, “Les pido por favor, cuando vayan a casa, investiguen de este tema. Estamos atravesando una crisis muy fuerte de clima y nosotros podemos cambiar la historia, pero si no despertamos, nothing’s gonna happen.”
(“For all of you who are here, I want to tell you that we are going through a very tough moment. There are lots of problems, but there is one that is most important, our home, the air we breathe; the most important part of life is breathing air,” Lafourcade said, “I ask you to please investigate this topic when you go home. We are going through a strong climate crisis and we can change the story, but if we don’t wake up, nothing’s gonna happen.”)
The crowd clapped in the middle of her speech affirming her call to action for environmental justice.
Lafourcade praised the environmental activism of the Swedish 16-year-old, Greta Thunberg, to whom she referred to as “La Greta.”
“A todos los que están detrás de La Greta, al movimiento estudiantil, al movimiento ‘FridaysForFuture,’ benditos son esos niños, benditas esas generaciones jóvenes,” Lafourcade said, “Como adultos apoyemóslos. Apoyemos esa generación joven y vamos para adelante como humanidad con amor. Esto es un derecho de nacimiento.”
(“To everyone behind Greta, the student movement, the FridaysForFuture movement, bless those kids, bless this young generation,” Lafourcade said, “As adults, we must support them. We must support that young generation and let’s move forward as one human race with love. This is our birth right.”)
Lafourcade ended her show by graciously thanking every member of her backup band by name.
The singer has six more stops in Texas before she concludes her U.S. tour.
Bryan Mena may be reached at [email protected].
