With just two weeks to go until WOMEX opens in Tampere, our Musical Road series heads to Los Angeles to meet La Santa Cecilia. What began with street-corner serenades on Olvera Street (and no, we’re not poeticising) has grown into Grammy, the quartet have become a defining presence in U.S. Latin music. La Marisoul’s unmistakable voice, paired with José “Pepe” Carlos, Alex Bendaña, and Miguel “Oso” Ramírez, drives songs that move between cumbia, bolero, tango, jazz, and rock: songs that celebrate, mourn, and confront the realities of migration and everyday life.

“ICE (El Hielo)” crystallised La Santa Cecilia’s voice in the immigration debate, turning the daily realities of undocumented life in the U.S. into a song that travelled far beyond the community itself. Earlier, “La Negra” had earned them a first Latin Grammy nomination, while “Calaverita” drew on Día de los Muertos ritual to reflect on memory and loss, and “Amar y Vivir” reframed a Mexican classic for a new generation. They have also stretched their sound in unexpected ways, from the playful “La Cumbia Morada” to a stark cover of “Strawberry Fields Forever” that tied Beatles nostalgia to political urgency. More recent singles like “Quiero Verte Feliz” (2021) and “Ojas en el Aire” (2024), recorded with a Oaxacan orchestra, show how they keep stretching scale and context while staying rooted in Latin traditions. Collaborations with Gustavo Santaolalla, stage moments with Elvis Costello and John Paul Jones, and appearances from Conan to The Book of Life underline how far their music has travelled without losing its anchor. Winning the Grammy for Treinta Días in 2013 was a breakthrough, but La Santa Cecilia’s meaning lies in how each new project sharpens their role as cultural witnesses, turning stories of migration, memory, and survival into songs that speak well beyond their own community.

In this episode of Musical Road to WOMEX, they reflect on that dual mission, speak about the inspirations that continue to drive them, and share playlists they personally compiled: a direct window into the sounds and artists shaping their journey.

How would you describe your sound to someone hearing it for the first time?

To me, the band always feels like walking into a Mexican house party where you experience tradition and modernity existing simultaneously. We are lovers of traditional Latin American and Mexican music. We honour our traditions yet are always figuring out how to connect our past and present through our music.

Looking back, what moment or turning point most strongly shaped La Santa Cecilia’s music and the way you carry it forward today?

There are so many. But I feel like making the initial commitment to leave our gigging life as working musicians to pursue our dream of having a band that could make a difference and honour music for what it has done in our lives was the most important moment.

This year WOMEX takes place in Tampere, where many audiences will be discovering your work live for the first time. What are you most curious to experience during your time there, and how do you imagine your music connecting with listeners in that setting?

We always have the mentality of presenting ourselves in the most honest way possible to express our love for music and our culture. We hope to win over the hearts of the Finnish people. We’ve dreamt of playing WOMEX for a really long time, so I feel like it will be very special for us to connect with people from all over the world. As our first time ever being in Finland, we look forward to celebrating life with new people in a new country.

With so many voices and traditions gathered at WOMEX, what makes La Santa Cecilia distinctive, and what do you hope people carry with them after your performance?

I think what makes La Santa Cecilia unique is our Mexican-American bicultural upbringing. We grew up simultaneously with Mexican music blasting in our home and at our parties, while at the same time listening to American hip hop, rock, and pop with our friends at school. We weren’t aware then just how impactful being immigrants and children of immigrants would be in shaping our worldview and how it would offer us a musical palette to create our art. Our band expresses the beauty of being from various cultures.

WOMEX is built on exchange as much as performance. Beyond your own showcase, are there artists or projects you are especially hoping to encounter in Tampere?

I think that’s one of the most exciting things for us as musicians – to see new artists from around the world. To be able to hear in person what folks are up to in different parts of our planet is a very unique experience. We are very open and look forward to meeting as many people as possible. What an exchange of energy it will be. Just reading this question made me feel so excited about what will happen.

Tampere is known for intimate venues that encourage close listening, while your music thrives on energy, emotion and connection with the crowd. How does adapting to a smaller, more focused setting shape the way you build a show and reach the audience?

We love smaller venues, as the intensity and connection are often greater than in bigger venues. We came up playing small clubs and the acoustic elements in our show help draw in the listener to create very intimate moments. And we are also ready to dance and sweat with all of you.

Los Angeles is central to your identity as musicians. How has its mix of cultures and communities shaped the way you write songs, and what do you hope Finnish and international audiences hear in that perspective?

Los Angeles has created an amazing mix of cultures throughout the years. Bands like The Doors, Los Lobos, the Chili Peppers, and Ozomatli have always mixed styles, in a way that helps bring our city and the world closer together. We love that about our city, and we are following in the footsteps of creating a sound that allows for the full spectrum of human emotions. At our show we dance, we celebrate life, we cry, laugh and feel all that is life together.

Your music often speaks of migration, identity, love, and social justice. In today’s world, which of these feels most urgent to bring to the stage at WOMEX?

All are urgent. We are living through very hard times. We are all very aware of the negative things happening. In our show we try to bring the importance of justice, peace, compassion, and love in our hope to create a more humane world for all of us.

Beyond WOMEX, what comes next for La Santa Cecilia? Are there new projects, recordings or collaborations already on the horizon?

Yes. We are currently releasing singles that will form part of an upcoming album. We invite everyone to check out our latest song “Ojas en el Aire”, which we recorded live with a Oaxacan Orchestra in Los Angeles. It will also accompany a short documentary that will be out soon as well.

If you could write a personal invitation to the people of Tampere, what words would you use to draw them into your showcase?

Hello Tampere! That night the stage will be like our home. We invite you into our home as you have invited us into yours. Let’s celebrate this beautiful life together.

On 23 October, 21:00 – 21:45, La Santa Cecilia bring their Mexico–USA stories of migration, heritage,
and everyday life to the Theatre Stage at Tampere Hall’s Main Auditorium for WOMEX.

PLAYLIST: LA SANTA CECILIA X RHYTHM PASSPORT

You can find all the previous episodes of Musical Road to Womex HERE