Deyra Barrera, the mariachi voice heard on Kendrick Lamar’s new album, GNX, shares the story behind their collaboration and a music that strikes her.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Subsequent, we hear a narrative in regards to the spirit of Los Angeles. It is a part of our collection known as Songs That Transfer You from NPR’s radio present and podcast Alt.Latino, hosted by Anamaria Sayre and Felix Contreras.
ANAMARIA SAYRE, BYLINE: As Los Angeles grapples with the current wildfires, I have been discovering solace within the sound that, to me, is quintessential LA – mariachi.
(SOUNDBITE OF MARIACHI LOCO SONG, “MARIACHI LOCO (EN VIVO)”)
SAYRE: Rising up in Southern California, it was the soundtrack to life at house or household events till just a few months in the past when it made its means onto the document of probably the most well-known rappers on the planet. OK, Felix, get this. It is Sport 1 of the 2024 World Collection, Yankees versus Dodgers. Mexican baseball legend Fernando Valenzuela had simply died. And so to open the sport, he is being honored by a sound that many Angelinos mourn to – crying mariachi voices.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DEYRA BARRERA: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: That voice, that is Valenzuela’s pal, who, till then, was little-known singer Deyra Barrera. As luck would have it – or perhaps you would say that it is simply so LA – Kendrick Lamar occurs to be within the crowd absorbing that morning grito. The LA Dodgers would go on to win the World Collection, and Kendrick Lamar was so moved by Barrera’s voice that he invited her to be the primary voice heard on his newest album, “GNX.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WACCED OUT MURALS”)
BARRERA: (Singing in Spanish).
KENDRICK LAMAR: (Rapping) Yesterday, someone whacked out my mural. That power’ll make you [expletive] transfer to Europe.
FELIX CONTRERAS, BYLINE: And the remainder, as they are saying, is historical past. And for this week’s Songs That Transfer You, we ask Barrera to inform us a couple of music that strikes her.
BARRERA: (Talking Spanish).
SAYRE: Barrera says the music “My Approach” or “A Mi Manera,” performed by the late mariachi celebrity Vicente Fernandez, is in regards to the passing of time for every of us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A MI MANERA”)
VINCENTE FERNANDEZ: (Singing in Spanish).
BARRERA: (Talking Spanish).
SAYRE: The music talks about residing life your means. So many issues occur, issues we let go of that we did not perceive. On the finish, you probably did what you needed your means. However for her, it isn’t only a message in a music. It is about who in her life lived on her personal phrases.
BARRERA: (Talking Spanish).
SAYRE: She says she grew up watching her mother sing, and it was her who taught Barrera her first chords on the guitar earlier than she continued to review music, vocals and efficiency. Like for me, mariachi was the sound of household for Barrera.
BARRERA: (Talking Spanish).
SAYRE: She advised us she beloved simply watching her mother play and sing along with her guitar. And as a substitute of enjoying with the opposite youngsters, she watched the adults sing and would say, I need to sing. I need to sing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A MI MANERA”)
BARRERA: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: And he or she turned a singer like her mom. At this time, life seems to be completely different for Barrera and her mother.
BARRERA: (Talking Spanish).
SAYRE: Now Barrera’s mom resides with dementia, however her reminiscence lives immortalized within the emotional supply of the music she sang and in Barrera’s voice, too.
CONTRERAS: You already know, Ana, this music can seem to be a curious alternative for a mariachi singer, but when we hint the musical breadcrumbs left in its wake, it makes complete sense. The music is usually related to Frank Sinatra. He launched it in March of 1969.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MY WAY”)
FRANK SINATRA: (Singing) And I stood tall and did it my means.
CONTRERAS: And it was his music till the flamenco group, the Gipsy Kings, did a well-liked Spanish language remake in 1987.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A MI MANERA (COMME D’HABITUDE)”)
GIPSY KINGS: (Singing in Spanish).
CONTRERAS: Which expanded the message of self-determination and perseverance to a worldwide Spanish-speaking viewers. And the Spanish cowl of a well-liked English language music just isn’t uncommon. Actually, it displays the bilingual and bicultural lifestyle for us Latinos on this nation. And whereas the Gipsy Kings had successful with their flamenco-tinged interpretation, what paved the best way for that was the mariachi tackle it launched just a few years earlier than.
SAYRE: Barrera’s favourite model will at all times be the king of mariachis. And as Barrera’s mother’s reminiscence slips away, she advised us it provides her peace, understanding that by means of all of it, her mom, a singer from Sonora, Mexico, an immigrant to Los Angeles, she lived her life her means.
BARRERA: (Talking Spanish).
SAYRE: The music is one thing actually near her coronary heart, she mentioned, a lesson to carry on to from LA to the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A MI MANERA”)
FERNANDEZ: (Singing in Spanish).
FADEL: Anamaria Sayre and Felix Contreras, the hosts of Alt.Latino. It is a podcast and radio present that takes a weekly have a look at Latin music and tradition. You will discover it on-line, on the NPR app and in your radio. And so they need to hear a couple of music that strikes you. Write to them at alt.latino@npr.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A MI MANERA”)
FERNANDEZ: (Singing in Spanish).
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content will not be in its remaining type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could fluctuate. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.
