Las Rubias del Norte

Artist Description

Las Rubias del Norte is a Brooklyn-based international collective which plays boleros, cha-cha-cha, cumbias, huaynos, lieder, and cowboy songs. Fronted by classically trained singers Allyssa Lamb and Emily Hurst, the band mixes musicians from the US, France and Colombia who all look back to the Latin motherland most of them never had. La Rubias del Norte's second album, Panamericana (out March 14th on barbès records) draws its inspiration from all across the Americas, and plays like a dreamy soundtrack where cha-cha-cha's and boleros mix with classical harmonies and cowboy music. The result is a collection of thirteen songs, each of which is a "sparkling gem" (The New Yorker.) Some of the songs on Panamericana have been heard the world over, some are known solely within their national or regional borders, while others have hardly ever been heard at all. They include Volver, Volver, a Mexican ranchera anthem of sorts; the Peruvian Huayno Corazon, Corazon, heard by chance in a small mountain town in Peru as well as a Dominican-tinged version of Francoise Hardy's Le Temps de l'Amour and Blue Prairie, one of the Sons of the Pioneers Cowboy classic. Despite the continental hopscotching, the striking aspect of Panamericana is its homogeneity. The album flows seamlessly from song to song, from country to country, never giving in to the dangers of imitation or to the lure of false authenticity. Las Rubias have created an unmistakably recognizable sound which remains a nostalgic throwback to a time and place mostly imagined. Las Rubias del Norte feature Taylor Bergren-Chrisman (bass) Olivier Conan (Cuatro & Vocals) Timothy Quigley and Greg Stare (percussion) and Giancarlo Vulcano (Guitar).