Arturo Hilario
El Observador
Silvana Estrada is a Mexican singer-songwriter & multi-instrumentalist that is bringing a soulful heart and diverse sounds to the world with genre bending style that has a basis in Latin folk and merges jazz, modern indie and Western classical components to create a unique tapestry of Mexican pop.
As she has raised her profile in Mexico and beyond over her decade long career, she has undoubtedly been compared to other icons of Mexican indie like Julieta Venegas, Mon Laferte, Natalia Lafourcade & Carla Morrison.
The comparisons are noted, but Estrada wants everyone to know she respects her peers but that she is not carrying the torch for them, as they all have their own unique torches to carry and inhabit their own artistic lanes.
In fact, Estrada is currently supporting Mon Laferte’s Femme Fatale Tour, and their collaboration is a great assurance that Latin pop is in a solid place, and continues to thrive in Mexico and beyond. The tour will be ending the North American leg on November 8, 2026 at the SAP Center at San Jose.
Estrada’s music is textured with sparse instrumentation, with straightforward songwriting that is all anchored by her crooning voice that softly reaches out and brings one along the journey of her emotions and experiences.
From the uplifting to the heartbreak, it instills a timeless yearning, while blending genres and modern concepts within these journeys of sound. It all floats over strings, woodwinds, guitars and the lively son jarocho sound from her native Veracruz region of Mexico.
Her debut album, 2022’s Marchita, introduced her sound: indie, folksy, and full of beautiful Spanish lyrics that exude beauty, joy, pain and everything in between. Her experiences are at the core of her songwriting, the music summoning an emotional throughline that conjures hazy memories of the past.
“Cuál era la idea de aventarte sin dejarte caer?” She says in between the strings of “Dime”, which focuses on a short lived love. Her lyrics love profoundly, cry up a storm, and at times fix things up with tequila, dancing and pushing forward. But they are always lively, always truthful.
Recently I interviewed Estrada to find out what her experience has been touring in non-Spanish speaking regions and letting the music translate her stories, why her musical inspirations and peers all carry their own unique torch in the world of Mexican indie as opposed to handing it off to a younger generation, and why having luthiers for parents taught her the patience of precise work that she carries into her work.
To start with, I wanted to know what some of your musical inspirations have been and how you’ve personally met these artists and worked with them.
Silvana Estrada
Yes, I’m fortunate that many of the people who have deeply inspired my career are also people I’ve had the chance to work with. I’m thinking of Natalia Lafourcade and Mon Laferte, I’m actually going on tour with her in the United States.
Julieta Venegas, who also helped raise me, and then a whole bunch of musicians who are perhaps more like distant acquaintances, people who aren’t really connected to what I do. Charlie Hunter, for example, or Michael Lee, or Antonio Sánchez, people more from the world of jazz whom I’ve always admired and have been able to work with. So yes, I’m very lucky.
Your parents are luthiers; they literally build musical instruments as part of their work. What was it like to have that inspiration, having the tools to make music right there, seeing how instruments are made, and all that?
Silvana Estrada
It was really wonderful; I think that shaped me, let’s say, it made me someone who’s very meticulous about processes, very patient. I have a lot of respect for the craftsmanship involved in everything done by hand. Whether you’re building a chair, cooking a meal, working as a stage technician, or handling sound, I mean, I really believe in craftsmanship, in the idea that hours of practice are what truly shape you as a professional.
And I grew up very aware of that, of patience and honest work, as something to strive for every day, “without shortcuts,” as in, “You’ve got to work honestly every day, and just keep going.”
It’s almost like you’re a Shaolin monk or something, because everything is so slow, everything is so beautiful, you have to concentrate, and it’s very precise.
– Silvana Estrada
Do you know the technical side of how an instrument for creating art is made, in addition to being an artist?
Silvana Estrada
Yeah, exactly, that’s kind of the more Zen side of it, because you have to be in touch with the materials, with the wood. It’s almost like you’re a Shaolin monk or something, because everything is so slow, everything is so beautiful, you have to concentrate, it’s very precise. I feel that if you’re a luthier, especially one who makes bowed string instruments like my parents, you really have to be fully present in the moment, and I love that.
I really admire that craftsmanship, and, in general, anyone who works with wood. Carpenters have it, too; they can’t make mistakes, because there are no second chancesm, it’s your material, and that’s it. If you do, well, you’ll just have to find another tree, I guess.
How would you describe your music? The sound, the style you use.
Silvana Estrada
I’d say my music is Latin American music, but maybe of today. It’s like a contemporary Latin American song, and above all, I think it’s a mix of all the things I like.
I like folk, jazz, and pop. So in my music, I kind of make the music that makes me happy, and there’s a mix of a lot of things that interest me, and I experiment with them, so to speak.
How do you blend the spirit of traditional classical music, son jarocho, and jazz with lyrics that explore more modern concepts, such as “ghosting” in the song “Good Luck, Good Night”, or more serious topics like violence against women and grief? How do you balance these lighthearted stories with the more profound ones?
Silvana Estrada
Sure, I think that in the end, at least for me, I write about the things that interest me and the things that touch my soul—it’s like I can’t help but pay attention to them, right? And I think death is one of those things, but it’s also powerful. Take “ghosting,” for example—it might seem like a very modern phenomenon, but really, the idea of loving someone and having that person turn their back on you—I think that’s been around since love was invented.
Heartbreak has been around ever since we invented love. And I think that in the end, even if we try to talk about very modern things, our feelings are pretty much the same, aren’t they? So, ultimately, I think that as humanity, we’ll always be talking about the same things. It’s just that the situations will keep changing.
And I’m especially interested in talking about feelings because I think that’s the most complex thing you can talk about, let’s say, in a song.
What’s it like to play music in a monolingual setting, for example, at music festivals in the United States where most people speak only English, and have people form their opinion of your music based on the sound rather than the lyrics?
Silvana Estrada
It’s really interesting, it’s interesting to see how music is also a language in and of itself. I remember once when I was opening for Rodrigo and Gabriela on tour, and we were in North Carolina, at an amphitheater. I swear, there wasn’t a single person there who spoke Spanish, I mean, there wasn’t a single Mexican there; it was a very local (U.S.) crowd.
Y recuerdo haber tocado «La Llorona» y que todos empezaran a llorar, y que la gente se conmoviera profundamente. Y creo que, por supuesto, al final lo que realmente llega es el espíritu, el sentimiento. Así que lo disfruto mucho, de hecho, me conmueve; para mí es como un juego: tocar en un lugar donde sé que no hablan mi idioma e intentar que la canción les llegue aunque no entiendan la letra.
And then there are also some challenges, for example, especially in the world of music criticism and stuff like that, I think that sometimes it really does get in the way of people not reading, or rather, not understanding what the song is about, because maybe they judge it without knowing, like, almost 50% of the song is the lyrics, right? So that can also be a bit complicated in these parts of the world, especially, but oh well, it’s no big deal.
But then it’s a celebration when you play in Mexico, right?
Silvana Estrada
Sure, yeah, in Mexico, wow. This December we’re going to play two national arenas, that’s like 20,000 people, I can’t believe it.
The first show sold out in one day. Yeah, in Mexico I really feel like I’m living a dream, I mean, I never thought people would love me so much in my own country.
You’ve been in this profession for about ten years. Have you ever seen yourself as part of a new generation of, or as carrying the torch for, great Mexican indie artists like Julieta Venegas and Natalia Lafourcade?
Silvana Estrada
No, not really, I don’t see it that way because, ultimately, I think Natalia, Julieta, Mon, and even Carla are still very much relevant. I mean, sometimes this idea of legacy kind of makes the great masters seem a little outdated and puts pressure on young people, maybe. But I don’t think so, because, I mean, Natalia, Julieta, and Mon are still very much at the forefront, Julieta just released an album, and they’re really creating.
I think they’re still at their “peak” in a way, and I actually believe that those of us who are younger are more like we’re carving out our own path, sort of alongside them as mentors and guides as well, but yeah, I don’t really like the concept of “carrying the torch,” because I feel like they definitely have the torch, just as we all do. It’s like everyone can forge their own path, and there isn’t just one torch, it’s as if everyone has their own unique, irreplaceable light, and that’s the one we need to nurture.
