An eclectic bill featuring Y La Bamba and Durand Jones and the Indications sold out and packed in a crowd of lovers at Scoot Inn on Friday night.
Luz Elena Mendoza gracefully leads the indie-encompassing folk group, Y La Bamba. Established in 2008, the band released their latest album, Entre Los Dos, in fall 2019. Menodza dances like a black flame on stage – with each cha cha step she moves with magic and belongs to herself, an embodiment of her music and experience. The musicians surrounding her are just as beautiful, all alive in their eyes. The sound is mystical, and performed with a tacit invitation to engage in the spiritual healing of their music.
The indie rock and latin infused sounds of the album are a fertile landscape for Mendoza’s songwriting. The lyrics unwind the way good poetry transcends. There may be added mystery to the bilingual lyricism, especially if the listener doesn’t know Spanish. From the album’s namesake song, “Entre Los Dos,” Mendzoa longs, “y yo me saltaré de mi ventana/y la muerte ahí me espera con otra vida” [“and I will throw myself out my window/and death waits for me there with another life”]. Although the poetic lyrics are somber, the sound is zestful, delivering a juicy juxtaposition of emotions.
“Paloma Negra,” [“Black Dove”] from the Mujeres single from 2018, had the everyone aye-aye-ing and ooh-oohing. Another song that embodies Mendoza’s divine feminine energy balanced with dark motifs and jovial affirmations: “Voy lentamente pero bien segura” [“I go slowly but very sure”]. Would you like a taste? Y La Bamba’s Tiny Desk Concert features “Paloma Negra” as the first song. Or, just see them when they come back through Austin, destined to play a headlining bill of their own on a larger stage with another enthralled crowd.
-Melissa Green