Rana Santacruz: Making Music For The New America

(KPRENSA) – As the ethnic make-up of America changes, so does its music. And with a passel of influences under his belt, Rana Santacruz makes music for that new America.
Santacruz’s solo debut Chicavasco —released on March 9, 2010— is the product of a vibrant musical vision that was shaped by growing up in Mexico City and coming of age in a musical world informed by MTV, where all styles of music are accessible like never before.
Santacruz writes and sings the songs, as well as playing accordion and a variety of stringed instruments. To flesh out his tunes, he enlisted a cast of a dozen versatile musicians who add a folk and neo-classical flare with violin, cello, sax and jaw harp as well as traditional Mexican mariachi instruments like guitarrón, vihuela, trumpet and tuba.
Born and raised in Mexico City, Santacruz had considerable success with his rock en español band La Catrina. Courted by a number of labels, the group signed with a major label in Mexico in the late ‘90s. His first experience with the music industry was a classic crash-and-burn; after recording in Mexico, Madrid and Miami, the CD failed to deliver a quick radio hit and his demoralized group soon disbanded.
In 2002, setting his sights well beyond the insular Mexican pop scene, Santacruz made the move from Mexico City to New York City. Drawing on influences including the golden age of Mexican cinema, the magical realism novels of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, musicians like Tom Waits, the Smiths and the Pogues, and American bluegrass, Santacruz set about recording a collection of songs assimilating those disparate influences.
The resulting CD, Chicavasco — named for a small town in the state of Hidalgo where La Catrina played a particularly surreal concert — is beautifully conceived and artfully produced. Not surprising since Alex Venguer, who joined Santacruz in producing the disk, just took home a GRAMMY for “Best Traditional Folk Album” for his part in Loudon Wainright’s High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project.
Like the classic Mexican songs of Chavela Vargas, Agustin Lara and Jose Alfredo Jimenez, Santacruz’s lyrical descriptions of romance are equal parts love and tragedy, and delivered with passion and conviction.  “Mexican culture is very complex, but in a lot of traditional art forms like old songs and films, you find very pure, sweet feelings,” he said. “I tried to rescue this simplicity and bring my songs down to earth as much I can.”
To date, Santacruz has won over American audiences of all stripes at showcases like Austin’s South by Southwest and New York’s Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival. Santacruz’s music is indeed music for a new America, if not a new world.
Rana Santacruz can be found on the Internet at: <a href="http://www.ranasantacruz.com">www.ranasantacruz.com</a> or <a href="http://www.myspace.com/ranasantacruz">www.myspace.com/ranasantacruz</a>…;
th, 1921 Bacon St., San Diego, CA 92107. (619) 222-6822.