Méxican singer Lucía has been on her first European tour. After a few stops in Germany and France, she made it to London for her UK debut at the new and quite fabulous venue Soul Mama.
Lucía Gutierrez Rebolloso is only 23 and hails from Xalapa in the Mexican state of Veracruz, where she’s been making music all her life. Coming from a musical family, she then graduated in 2022 with a degree in Jazz at Universidad Veracruzana and went on to win first prize at the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in the same year.
Her first European outing has her sharing her impressive voice and singular artistic vision which is bridging the gaps between Jazz, Latin, and Pop music. Her debut album comes out later this month – 16 May – and Lucía shared a pared-back version of the songs on the new release.
The new music venue and restaurant, Soul Mama, is owned and run by acclaimed musician YolanDa Brown OBE DL and music manager and creative entrepreneur Adetokunbo “T” Oyelola. Opening in November 2024, this is bound to be a major addition to the London scene. Minutes from Stratford International, the acoustics in the room were delicious and the food was amazing.
Singing in duo with Venezuelan pianist Antonio Mazzei brought light to just how powerful and beautiful Lucía’s voice is and she used it effortlessly to create emotion and intensity, as well as bring out playful elements of her spectrum of song choices.
Singing mostly in her native language, Lucía shared stories with the audience to help us grasp the meaning of each song, like with the song of her hometown, Veracruz, written by Augustín Lara about his experience leaving his birthplace, and remembering all the joys of returning.
Now that Lucía is living in New York, this song must bring solace and she sang it with such dedication, it’s clear that Veracruz is deeply rooted in her soul.
The song Alfonsina y el Mar, was described as a terribly sad poem about an Argentinian poet, who died by suicide by disappearing into the sea. Lucía managed to capture the sadness and the beauty of this story in her version.
As well as a few other latin songs, Lucía also included some jazz standards where she shared her scatting skills. Her endearing version of I’m Confessin’ that I Love You and her arrangement of Exactly Like You gave her a chance to highlight why she won the Sarah Vaughan competition and gave her a chance to riff with Mazzei at the piano, who also contributed some lovely solos and a few rhythmic moments – bringing their shared latin feel to the stage.
Lucía had no trouble encouraging the audience to chant ‘otra, otra, otra’ at the end (another, or encore!) to hear her sing the ever classic Besamé Mucho as a send off. Keep an eye out for her release later this month and her name on the European tour routes, as it won’t be long before she’s back!
