Interview: Elena & Los Fulanos
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You can be both immigrant and American at the same time. Those two things don’t have to be in conflict with one and other, which I very much believe and I feel like I symbolize as my personal identity, and possibly the identity of the whole band”
—Elena Lacayo
The bilingual folk-rock band Elena & Los Fulanos performed songs from its latest album, “Volcán,” last month at the Dupont Underground, a converted art and performance venue that was once a subterranean streetcar station.
Vibrantly-painted street art covered the walls as we made our way through the curvature of the tunnel. Emerging in the underground concert space, we got a first glimpse of the band on a small stage with soft and intimate lighting. Elena Lacayo, the D.C.-based band’s frontwoman and songwriter, was in a bright yellow sleeveless dress that was nearly incandescent. As the night progressed, it seemed to fit her energetic personality even more.
Between songs she spoke seriously about immigration, social justice and women’s rights, sprinkling in jokes to lighten the mood. The band quickly demonstrated its instrumental and vocal talent, sharing songs from its 2014 debut album, “Miel Venenosa,” which earned a Washington Area Music Association (WAMMIE) nomination for Best Latin Recording. The musicians also performed classics ranging from Latin American folk music to pop. As the audience warmed up, the excitement reached its height with the group’s cover of “Amor Prohibido,” a Selena classic that had many in the audience dancing and singing along. The performance was part of Washington Performing Arts’ Mars Urban Arts Initiative.
After the Sept. 28 concert, Hola Cultura interviewed Lacayo about the band’s musical evolution—and her own—over the last few years, her Nicaraguan roots, and Los Fulanos’ mission.
What brought you to D.C.?
I came to D.C. to work on policy. I graduated from college in Indiana and wanted to move to a city that had public transportation and a lot of opportunities for work on social justice. D.C. just made sense so I moved here in 2006, I started working on policy and lobbying, which led me to work on immigration. I did that for six years.
How would you say growing up in Nicaragua shaped you?
The fact that I grew up in Nicaragua was really helpful in terms of becoming fully bilingual and fully bicultural. I learned to speak Spanish fully while I was there. I became emerged in the culture. I wasn’t super interested in Nicaraguan culture when I lived there but I learned a lot about it because I was there.
That’s the thing about culture, you grow up around it.It’s what you are; you just know it. It’s kind of like the air around you. I learned about Nicaraguan culture, and what it is to be Nicaraguan. My parents still live there actually. I learned about my own history, my parents are both Nicaraguan.
I think that would’ve been a very different experience if I hadn’t lived there. When you are the child of an immigrant living in the U.S. and experience that culture through your parents, but not through your own experience, it’s not the same as through your own experience. I think that might be part of the reason people relate to my music.
There’s a whole bunch of people that grew up in the States mostly, and know they have this background but don’t have any personal experience with that culture. My music project is partly in English, if the listener doesn’t know how to speak Spanish super well. Then there are songs that are fully in Spanish. So it’s like a safe environment in which to explore your own culture.
What was different this time around in creating “Volcán” compared to “Miel Venenosa?”
“Miel Venenosa” was definitely more of a singer/songwriter album with a band. “Volcán” was definitely more intentional in the sense of the arrangement and the way in which the songs came together. I intentionally used Latin elements–different kinds of elements and genres–to explore the different sounds that are addressed in “Volcán.”
“Miel Venenosa,” I’m proud of the album, but it’s kind of the songs that happened.”Volcán” was more directed in some way. I had this idea, this framework, and this identity of what Elena & Los Fulanos is, and what we had been doing and to build on that and take it to the next level, and, show more authenticity in terms of our Latin roots.
It’s definitely a much more Latin sounding album. We integrated different instrumentation too. We used much more Latin percussion and more piano, which we didn’t have on the first album. It’s just much more sophisticated in a lot of ways. We had a lot more intentionality about the genres we used and a lot more depth to understanding those genres, especially with regards to Nicaragua and what I included in there.
“Tributo a Dario” would be the prime example, where I used marimba and other instruments, also the fact that it’s a tribute to Nicaragua’s most important poet (Rubén) Darío, was pretty important in establishing myself as a Nicaraguan-American instead of another Latina artist. I had to develop myself as an artist, and there’s a lot of research that I did for “Volcán.”
How did you come to choose the title “Volcán?”
I grew up around Volcanoes. I loved it. You can see Volcanoes from anywhere in Managua, where I grew up. I wanted to have words that are easier to understand in both English and in Spanish. That was kind of my starting point. “Volcán” was easy, it’s just one letter away from the English equivalent.I liked that idea; but also, the idea of a thing that can be so destructive, so powerful.
For a lot of people, it can symbolize death and destruction, but years after a Volcano erupts the land becomes super fertile. So it actually also symbolizes a rebirth. To me that was symbolic of not only the political situation that was happening in the U.S., and showing resistance in the new album, but also the political turmoil that is happening in Nicaragua. This turmoil right now is very serious but at the same time it symbolizes the “whew” that exists after that kind of turmoil–the fact that there’s going to be a rebirth and a rebirth of the land. It’s going to be fertile and we’re going to be better for having gone through this.
Can you tell us about your favorite song on the album?
I love all the songs on my album. I’m proud of all of them, but if I had to pick a personal favorite it’s The Veneer. It’s probably the weirdest song on the album. It feels kind of indefinite like you’re not on stable footing in structure and time.
When I came up with those musical ideas I came up with chords and a melody. But sometimes if they don’t have words, I wonder; ‘What are these chords? What is this feeling saying to me?’ To me that instability really made me think about what it is to have mental instability. I have a lot of mental instability in my family. I decided to try and use the song to try and understand what mental illness must be like. What it feels like. You’re going into it and there’s nothing you can do about it; it kind of spirals. That’s what The Mirror is about, and at the very end it kind of symbolizes the losing of one’s mind; the undoing of a person.
Lastly, what would you like to share with your fans and our readers/followers?
Elena & Los Fulanos, part of our mission is that you can be both immigrant and American at the same time. Those two things don’t have to be in conflict with one and other, which I very much believe and I feel like I symbolize as my personal identity, and possibly the identity of the whole band.
I think this extends beyond those two identities that I’m focusing on. It can be more about people that have multiple identities and check multiple boxes or feel that the way that they see themselves conflicts with itself. This is really a project that is intended to show that you can be diverse within yourself.
To learn more about the band, visit Elena y Los Fulanos’ website.
—Jennifer Hernandez and Isabelle Orozco
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