Since her 2002 debut album, Natalia Lafourcade, from Mexico, has proved herself as a songwriter whose impulses span bossa nova, delicate pop-folk songs, twitchy electronica and fuzz-toned rock. She took a songwriting sabbatical for her fifth album, “Mujer Divina: Homenaje a Agustín Lara,” turning to the legacy of one of Mexico’s most cherished musicians. Agustín Lara wrote and sang elegantly romantic ballads and boleros that made him a star in the 1930s; of his hundreds of songs, many went on to become Latin pop standards. (The album also includes three songs by María Teresa Lara, his sister, including the magnificently despairing “Piensa en Mi.”) Ms. Lafourcade turned Lara’s repertory into duets with a Pan-American assortment of collaborators, including Gilberto Gil, Devendra Banhart, Jorge Drexler and members of Latin alternative rock bands like Café Tacvba, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and Zoé. She chose songs full of tears and regrets, and sings them in her elfin but expressive voice while her male partners strive for suavity. The arrangements don’t imitate Lara’s originals; instead, they feature Ms. Lafourcade’s ukulele and tease at nostalgia for 1950s and 1960s pop. Her versions mix respect with whimsy, treating the old songs with casual affection and lightening them while holding on to their sense of longing.
Posted from :https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/25/arts/music/natalia-lafourcade-de-todas-las-flores.html
