In her very long and successful life as a performer, Eugenia León had never recorded a song written by her. That changed recently, when the muse of inspiration possessed this Mexican singer and she began to put into letters fragments of adventures, experiences, stories and stories that she never considered putting on paper.
“I didn’t expect to compose,” he said. “But suddenly inspiration came and the songs began to come out.”
More than 40 years have passed since Eugenia won an important Ibero-American singing competition; Since then his career has spanned a wide variety of genres that have ranged from bolero to northern music, including rancheras, tango, children’s songs and Latin American folk music.
But now he is working on an album of songs with mariachi. He had previously recorded songs by great ranchera composers—such as José Alfredo Jiménez—but he had never dedicated a complete production to Mexican vernacular music.
The album is called “My Songs,” and although Eugenia has not yet determined how many cuts it will include, in recent months she has edited and released several of them, the most recent, “When you go,” which is about a relationship that can no longer continue, even though there is still love on one of the parties. He has also released “I no longer want to see you”, “Last night I dreamed you” and “Carita de cielo”.
“That makes it special to me,” he said. “It’s a very nice moment.”
The artist is taking her time between songs. There is no rush, because she more than anyone knows that worthwhile things are done calmly and patiently. He accepted the challenge and so far he has a series of songs ready that he has shaped little by little, and that is how he has been presenting them to the public, “without looking too far ahead.”
Weekend at The Soraya
It is possible that by September or October this cycle will be closed; Meanwhile, Eugenia continues with presentations around the world. This weekend she will perform at The Soraya theater in Los Angeles, where she will be part of “Chavela y sus Mujeres”, a tribute to Chavela Vargas in which she will share the stage with the actress Ofelia Medina, the singers Ely Guerra and La Marisoul and the bands Los Macorinos and Mariachi Gama 1000.
Eugenia and Chavela were great friends, until the death of the Costa Rican nationalized Mexican performer, in 2012. Eugenia remembers her as a woman with great inner strength and a great personality on stage that contrasted with her character in private.
“Generation, a very tender woman,” he said, “Who had come and gone in life, who reached rock bottom in a way that not everyone else, and who returns as she returned already in her third age and triumphing as she triumphed in Europe and in the world and in Mexico, and above all, conquering very young audiences.”
Chavela Vargas, after having had a career as a ranchero music singer full of recognition and fame, reached old age poor, forgotten and mired in alcoholism. In the early 1990s, Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar used Chavela’s songs in the film High Heels and took the then octogenarian artist to perform on stages in Europe.
“He triumphed again and became an inspiration for everyone,” Eugenia said.
When Chavela’s health declined, she used to say that she was not going to die, that she was going to transcend because she was a shaman — a kind of spiritual leader — Eugenia said.
And about what Chavela and the artists participating in the tribute have in common, Eugenia highlighted that they all live with the freedom that Chavela lived with.
“The four of us are women who are assuming our freedom and our own loneliness as women and as artists,” she said. “Each one with a different style, with very different voices, but we have a bit of that freedom that Chavela had.”
In detail
That: Chavela and her women concert, with Eugenia León, Ely Guerra, La Marisoul and Ofelia Medina
Where: Younes and Soraya Nazarian Heart for the Performing Arts, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge
When: Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 3 pm
As: tickets from $59; reports thesoraya.org
