Mexican Folk and pop-rock artist Y La Bamba at The Center for the Arts on Jan. 25

The Center for the Arts is pleased to present Y La Bamba with support from Isabeau Waia’u Walker in the Marisa Funk Theater on January 25, 2024.

Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos began recording music under the name Y La Bamba in 2008. Fifteen years and six studio album releases later, they continue to impress with their undeniably distinguished sound.

Y La Bamba’s journey through their discography stands as a testament to Ramos’ evolution as an artist. From the lo-fi echoes of their debut, “Alida St.,” reminiscent of the era that birthed the likes of Joanna Newsom and CocoRosie, to the bilingual revelations of “Mujeres,” Y La Bamba’s musical odyssey is one marked by growth and introspection.

In 2011, the group released Lupon, their second album, featuring a full band of seven people; the album was still “minimalist” with production by Chris Funk of The Decemberists.Court The Storm followed the next year, produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos with songs co-written by Paul Cameron. Y La Bamba toured, opening for Neko Case (a guest on the album’s title track) and The Lumineers, as well as made appearances at the renowned SXSW music festival.

For the next four years, Ramos played and sang in Tiburones and Los Hijos de la Montaña, a band co-fronted by Calexico’s Sergio Mendoza. As Y La Bamba, the group recorded and released their fourth album, Ojos Del Sol, and in September 2016, released the single, “Ostrich”. Spin magazine wrote: “Y La Bamba’s new track ‘Ostrich’ is a soaring balance of tradition and evolution. The first single from their upcoming album, Ojos Del Sol, is an upbeat acoustic guitar track under beautiful three-part harmonies about how the experiences we have, both good and bad, help us to grow into the people we are—past creating present.” Ojos Del Sol, which chronicled Ramos’ personal growth and told of their own life and the history of their family was one of NPR’s Top 50 Albums of 2016.

Released in February 2019, Y La Bamba’s 14-song album, Mujeres was produced by Ramos. It debuted at Number 7 on Billboard magazine’s Latin Pop Albums chart. Once again, the lyrical themes focused on Ramos’ experience as a Mexican in the political climate of the time. They dedicated the album to their mother and all women, while singing of misogyny and machismo attitudes.

To tour this album, they orchestrated a change that resulted in all new band members, including Ryan Oxford/vocals, guitar; Julia Mendiolea/vocals, keyboards; Miguel Jimenez-Cruz/drums; and Zachary Teran/vocals, bass with Isabeau Waia’u-Walker occasionally adding more vocals. The New York Times called the bilingual Mujeres album “traditional musica mexicana as well as American folk songs and dream pop.”

On Lucha, Y La Bamba’s latest 2023 album release, Ramos worked with engineers and producers Coco Hernán Godas and Ryan Neil Oxford. Pitchfork said “Their music has never quite sounded this silky, enveloping, or unreal, with familiar sounds consistently warping into unfamiliar shapes. When they invite their old companion Devendra Banhart to join on “Hues,” he sounds utterly submerged inside their world—a wide-eyed Dorothy wandering through Ramos’ self-constructed Oz.”

Musician Isabeau Waia’u Walker will be providing support for the evening. Culture, race, and language surface in her work; half a life in her native Hawaii, the second in Oregon. For over a decade of being a high school teacher, she made music, slowly amassing an impressive YouTube subscribership. She orchestrated an early retirement from education to redirect attention to music, allowing her to tour as a member of Y La Bamba and to record her EP, Better Metric. “Woman,” a track off the EP, made OPB music’s top songs of 2020.

Undoubtedly, this music is a necessity, promising concert attendees a profound sense of enrichment as they depart from the event. Whether it’s the symbolic depth of lyricism, the remarkable diversity in instruments and sounds, or the advocacy for crucial societal ideas posed by these artists, there is an undeniable value in the narratives woven within music—the very essence that renders it worth embracing.

Please join us for an evening with Y La Bamba in the Marisa Funk Theater on January 25, 2024.

Since 2000, The Center for the Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization, has grown into a leading presenter of music, dance, theater, comedy, literary and visual art, and family programming, offering more than 150 events per year from its location in downtown Grass Valley. The Center recently completed a major renovation of its multiuse, 21,000-square-foot facility in downtown Grass Valley, making it a premier performing arts destination. The venue includes the Main Stage, which accommodates up to 492 guests in configurable theater seats and up to 700 patrons for dance shows, and a 90-seat studio theater.

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