Lupita Infante: We need to “break down” barriers to have more women in regional Mexican music.
Miami (USA), Nov 5 (EFE)
Mexican singer-songwriter Lupita Infante, granddaughter of the legendary Pedro Infante and the only woman nominated for a Latin Grammy for Best Regional Song, said in an interview with EFE that “we have to keep working, breaking down and tearing down those barriers for women, because I want to see us at the top.”
Infante, who is nominated for the song ‘¿Seguimos o no?’, which she shares with artists such as Carín León, Maluma, Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera, says she would like “to see more women nominated”.
She emphasized that since 2000 “there has only been one female artist or group of artists (Flor de Toloache) that has won the category of best mariachi album,” the genre in which she is registered.
She was nominated for the Anglo-Saxon Grammys in 2023 and again this year, however she highlighted that on that occasion “we were four women” finalists -Lila Downs, Flor de Toloache, Ana Bárbara and herself- along with Peso Pluma, and added: “I hope to see this also reflected in the Latin Grammys in the future.”
The Mexican artist released the album ‘Las de Infante’ in October, a tribute that reimagines 23 of the most emblematic songs of the Mexican icon, featuring artists such as the Colombian Manuel Medrano or the Mexican El David Aguilar.
The participants chose them from over 300 songs and performed them accompanied by a maximum of two instruments, making the project something “intimate” and “romantic”.
“It has a slightly modern sound, with voices from this generation, so that the songs that once enchanted us from Pedro Infante can still make us happy,” he said.
This journey begins with ‘Tu enamorado’ (Your Lover). It is the only song that retains the original version performed by Pedro, a song that “perfectly describes my grandfather,” who “is so well known for those serenades he used to give and the romanticism of his voice.”
Although she knew him through his music and his films, since Pedro died when Lupita’s father was a child, for Lupita he is “a very big, very charismatic character, who would have been a great friend to many and someone very cheerful.”
Lupita sings ‘Enamorada’, a song “very well-known by my grandfather”, and ‘Cartas marcadas’, which “is about cheating in love” and reminds her of “what is happening in the United States” especially on immigration issues.
“I feel that sometimes this country wants to cheat,” said Lupita, who wanted to “give a new twist to the interpretation and relate it to what is happening here.”
“It’s very easy to feel powerless in the face of so many changes that are happening, so many people being affected,” and for her, “music is an ‘outlet’ to be able to say what I’m feeling, a way to vent.”
Among the voices that perform ‘Las de Infante’, Lupita highlighted the Mexican band Daniel, Me Estás Matando, the Puerto Rican Raquel Sofía and the Mexican Gera Demara, with whom she has managed to “bring” her grandfather’s songs “to new audiences”.
Pedro Infante, the Mexican DNA
The singer “loves” to see how regional Mexican music is gaining more and more presence, both in Latin music and internationally: “There are many artists who are opening those doors, like Peso Pluma, Xavi, Natanael Cano.”
“It’s important to have Mexico’s name on everyone’s lips,” he stressed, and admitted that “hopefully we will continue to be present, because since my grandfather’s time Mexico has always been a great exponent of music, film, culture and life.”
In 2027, it will be 110 years since the birth of Pedro Infante, whose music “is part of our DNA as Mexicans and as Latin Americans” and “all the love that people have for him keeps him alive,” his granddaughter concluded gratefully.
Among her latest projects, Lupita released the song ‘Prenderte una vela’ for the Day of the Dead, as a reconnection with her grandfather and her father, who passed away 16 years ago, and whose “absence, as much as his presence, has marked our lives,” she expressed.
After the Latin Grammys gala, which will be held on November 13 in Las Vegas, Lupita has several concerts scheduled around the U.S. accompanied by a symphony orchestra.
