Mon Laferte and his link with Peru: talks about Chabuca Granda, Susana Baca, his plays in Barranco and more

“I’m not religious, but the song talks about accusations, a bit about cancel culture, about how we are always judging. And I think that as a society we have learned a lot from religion. Since we are babies we are being told that this is right, that this is wrong, that good and evil. […] Today we do that in a much more massive way on social networks”The singer told El Comercio via Zoom in an interview to promote her “Autopoietica Tour 2024,” which will bring her back to the country on April 16. The promotional poster for her shows her twice in a painting: she, dressed in black, is holding a copy of herself, but dressed in white. In the interview we talked about more of her creative process and, of course, Peru.

―I was listening to “Autopoietics”. The album is very eclectic, right? At times there is a church choir, urban rhythms, salsa, tango. It reminded me a little of “Norma” from 2018, which was very varied. With this album did you want to return to what Norma was, perhaps?

No. I think that, of course, they are a bit similar because of the rhythms, more traditional or Caribbean or danceable, but I feel that this one is in a different universe. It’s a little more experimental I would say, and in fact it’s super different in how it was recorded. I recorded “Norma” live, in one take, on tape, so it’s super old school. And “Autopoietics” I did on my computer, with much samples and everything very electronic. So they live in two different universes, but I understand that there may be similarities due to the type of styles, salsa and this.

―In the second song, “I swear that I will return,” your voice has been transformed into a low, slow tone. I was seeing that this is a “reduced cumbia”, a Mexican genre. How did you develop the song in that genre that I think is not so well known outside that country?

Look, lowered cumbia is popular in a region of Mexico, in the city of Monterrey, it began to become popular there in the 2000s; everyone started downloading the songs [de velocidad], as if intentionally to ‘piss her’. Now when I discovered this – not so long ago – she blew my mind because slow cumbia is so beautiful. Because cumbia in itself is beautiful; I love cumbia, both Colombian, Peruvian, and Argentine. But lowered there is something very poetic about it and it is beautiful that it also started as if by accident. And there is a whole culture behind the lowered cumbia, it is not just the sound, there is a whole aesthetic and it is a world that I am passionate about because of this whole culture of the ‘Kolombias’ of Monterrey. How did I get to it? I had this idea of ​​cumbia, but I felt that it is also more like a speech to lower it because it is a song that talks about migration, it is a painful song and by making it slower it takes you to that mood that it weighs on you. Because migration is hard, it’s like carrying something very, very heavy on your back.

―You are a regular visitor to Peru. We never miss your tours. What did Peru represent at the beginning of your career?

I have one of my best friends in life who is from Peru and is a director; She has made some very popular films there. And when I started my project, I was still an independent artist, my beautiful friend Ani [Alva] He always helped me and saw a way for me to go to Peru, I stayed at his house and he found places for me to go and play. So I have a lot of affection for Peru precisely for that reason. Because I went a lot, I played a lot and Ani is like a sister to me and she has always been there; I have had Peruvian loves too [risas].

―One sees the comments on the YouTube videos where you appear here, in those beginnings, and people agree on how fortunate Peru was to see you grow artistically.

Know? The first time I sang “Your lack of wanting” was in Peru in a place called Cholo bar.

-And what was the reception like when you released it?

It was incredible. In fact, I made the melody of that song while in Mexico, then I traveled to Peru and while there I wrote the lyrics. I had finished it and I was just playing alone with my guitar at that time there in Barranco. And I said ‘I’m going to play a song that doesn’t have a name yet, so I’m going to sing it and you tell me what title I’ll give it’. There weren’t that many people either, I played in a bar for a few people, but they liked it a lot. It connected quickly. And a Peruvian artist who was there also told me ‘put “Your lack of wanting”’.

―Checking the internet to look for your presence in Peru, I see a video that you uploaded 12 years ago to YouTube that shows you walking through Barranco, on the “Bridge of Sighs”, quite excited and singing “La flor de la Canela”. How was your approach to Chabuca Granda?

For my grandmother. I was born in Viña del Mar, in the Valparaíso Region. So there the bolero, the Peruvian waltz, the tango, are almost part of our folklore, they are heard all the time. I grew up singing Peruvian waltzes because of my grandmother, who was the one who took me to these little places for tango, waltzes, and bolero. And there I already knew Chabuca since he was a baby.

― You have always listened to Peruvian music, but is it only these genres that you mention or have you heard some other genres from here?

I think that the waltz is the one that has been most present in my life. I’m not as knowledgeable as I am about so many musical genres, but the waltz was there.

―I was asking you because I was interested in knowing if you are familiar with the music of Susana Baca.

Oh, of course, I love Susana Baca.

-I ask because she is currently in poor health. Due to a journalistic agenda issue, we are interested in valuing her more as an artist, since she is one of the greatest in Peru. I wanted to know what you think of her music, how you met her and what you value most about her.

Well, I met Susana, not personally, I don’t have the honor, but I started listening to her music as an adult. And as you say, she seems like a wonderful artist to me, she is a gem. Know? I am very sorry that she is in poor health; I send her all my love, I admire her very much, I respect her a lot.