Cancionera

by Natalia Lafourcade

Overview

To call Natalia Lafourcade's Cancionera ("Songstress") a change of direction would be an erroneous understatement. Her first studio album since 2022's De Todas Las Flores, it was co-produced by Adán Jodorowsky with 18 musicians (chamber strings, winds, reeds, and brass) and several invited guests. It was recorded live in one take to analog tape. Lafourcade seeks to combine the traditional and the contemporary in dialogue that weds her roots in the Veracruz son jarocho heritage with her modern creative sensibilities on originals and a few interpretations of Mexican folk songs. Opener "Cancion Apertura" is a case in point. Surrounded by sweeping orchestral strings conducted by Gordon Hamilton, her sultry voice emerges from ether buoyed by her gorgeous piano and nylon-string guitar playing. New York City's Soundwalk Collective offers sound design for her arrangements. "Cancionera" is at once a nocturnal plea and anthem. Accompanied by sensual strings, her guitar, Emiliano Dorantes' piano, and Abraham J. Sáenz' flute, she sings a hymn to her alter ego, "Songbook, sing, sing free to the wind/Cancionera, always sing your truth/Be a woman, the beautiful muse; be the star of a life ... Lighting a heart /Don't mortify yourself if the lights/go out on you/Or the delights of fame/They will betray our love." The set's finest moment -- albeit arguably -- is "Amor Clandestino," a steamy midtempo bolero in a duo with the world-class flamenco tenor Israel Fernández. The entwined singers' voices ache with desire and amorous need backed only by percussion, piano, and contrabass. The foreboding ballad "Mascaritas de Cristal" is all romance and ache as cello and contrabass play off one another amid her resonant vocals and guitar. The cheery, sprightly, "El Paloma y La Negra" finds a large backing chorus, clarinet, trumpet, and strings framing her vocal and tender lyrics. Her version of the mysterious folk song "La Bruja" offers only Lafourcade's nylon-string guitar and Soundwalk Collective's sonic design, which never feels inorganic. It's followed by "Luna Creciente" with the spacious desert guitars of Los Hermanos Gutiérrez offering an exotic, sumptuous backdrop for her romantic vocal. "Lágrimas Cancioneras" is a glorious orchestral instrumental offering in sound design by Soundwalk Collective using lush strings, melancholy flute, piano, winds, and brass. The album closes with a mournful flamenco version of "Amor Clandestino (Acústica)" and a poignant acoustic version of the title track. Cancionera is at once seductive and striking; its sophisticated lyrics wed searing poetry and metaphysics by blending folk forms into modernist songs of sensual and spiritual power. It doesn't get much better than this. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	07/11/2025
Label:	Sony U.S. Latin
UPC:	0198029114218

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Natalia Lafourcade   Primary Artist,Choir/Chorus,Musical Director,Piano,Guitar,Vocals
El David Aguilar   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Choir/Chorus,Guitar (Acoustic)
Israel Fernandez   Primary Artist,Vocals
Hermanos Gutierrez   Primary Artist
Diego del Morao   Primary Artist,Guitar
Alex Lozano   Drums
Jose Nabani Aguilar Vazquez   Violin
Airam Castillo   Choir/Chorus
Alejandro Rincon   Choir/Chorus
Borja Conde   Choir/Chorus
Daniel Loustaunau   Choir/Chorus
Fernanda Tovar   Choir/Chorus
Itzel Pena   Choir/Chorus
Jorge Leal Carrera   Choir/Chorus
Lucia Salamanca   Choir/Chorus
Luna Montero   Choir/Chorus
Carlos Marti   Choir/Chorus
Florangel   Violin
Alfredo Pino   Trumpet,Choir/Chorus
Benjamin Carone   Violin
Pawel Sliwinski   Violin
Beata Kukawska   Violin
Alfredo Pino Gendy   Trumpet,Choir/Chorus
Jose Antonio Avila   Violin
Abraham Saenz   Flute
Adan Jodorowsky   Choir/Chorus,Musical Director
Karla Lugo   Cello
Lilian Sifontes   Viola
Agustin Ortiz   Choir/Chorus
David Vina   Violin
Alejandra Paniagua   Choir/Chorus
Estevan Gutierrez   Guitar (Electric)
Rosa Hadit   Choir/Chorus
Tlali Maribel   Marimba,Choir/Chorus
Andres Ritter   Choir/Chorus
Nabani Aguilar Vazquez   Violin
Gabriel Padilla   Clarinet
Jorge Gamboa   Contrabass
Sofia Velazquez   Choir/Chorus
Anna Ferrer   Viola
Diego Mora   Choir/Chorus,Vacuum Cleaner
Oscar Pacheco   Percussion
Gordon Hamilton   Conductor,Choir/Chorus
Rolando Fernandez   Cello
Juan Pablo Lopez Fonseca   Choir/Chorus
Nabani Aguilar   Violin
Cristina Arista   Cello
Cesar Pacheco   Percussion
Karla Sofia Lugo   Cello
Anna Arnal   Viola
Leonelys Sanchez   Violin
Emiliano Dorantes   Piano,Choir/Chorus
Alejandro Gutierrez   Guitar
Diego Mema   Choir/Chorus
Elier Contreras   Choir/Chorus
Lu Garibay   Choir/Chorus,Vacuum Cleaner
Carlos Manuel Lopez   Choir/Chorus
Michel Kuri   Choir/Chorus
Angel Gabriel Padilla Ibanez   Clarinet
Florangel Karina De La Divina Cuicas Mujica   Violin
Henry Williams Lopez   Viola

Technical Credits

Citlali Aguilera   Lyricist
Bernie Grundman   Mastering Engineer
Hermanos Gutierrez   Arranger
Public Doman   Authoring
Natalia Lafourcade   Arranger,Composer,Lyricist,Producer
Public Domain   Lyricist,Authoring
Alex Ortiz   Engineer
Jack Lahana   Engineer,Mixing Engineer
Diego del Morao   Arranger,Assistant Engineer
Adan Jodorowsky   Arranger,Producer
Lorenzo Barcelata   Composer,Lyricist
Sofia Velazquez   Assistant Engineer
Diego Mora   Assistant Engineer
Israel Fernandez   Arranger
Alan Ortiz Grande   Engineer
Rodolfo David Aguilar Dorantes   Composer,Lyricist
Erick Villagrana   Assistant Engineer
Emiliano Dorantes   Arranger
Diego Mema   Assistant Engineer
Elier Contreras   Assistant Engineer
Lu Garibay   Assistant Engineer
Michel Kuri   Assistant Engineer