What you need to know:
Get to know Reyna Tropical, Fabi Reyna’s project, here on A Tu Playlist.
There’s a lot of talk about the boom in Latin music in recent years, with urban and regional Mexican genres taking center stage. right at the top of your mind the current industry. But in the emerging alternative scene, which is suddenly declining in the face of misleading figures from digital platforms, We find freshness in proposals like Reyna Tropical.
Multiculturalism, influence of Latin American folklore, cool things about Hispanic underground dance based in Los Angeles, the Afro-Mexican essence and even Afrobeat and queer activism… These are just some of the details with which they describe this project that they lead the artist of Mexican origin, Fabi Reyna.
And although he has already had good years sharing music, 2024 marks a turning point for his career in this regard His debut album is finally released with the title misery. We tell you more about this project here To your playlist from Sopitas.com.
The minds that founded Reyna Tropical
It all started in 2017, when Fabiola Reyna (born in Cancún but raised in McAllen and then Portland) and Nectali “Sumohair” Díaz (originally from Guerrero) met in a series of workshops and activities at the Red Bull Music Academy’s Bass Camp at the US Bonnaroo Festival 2017.
Their connection to music was evident even before they met. Fabi founded in 2012 She Shreds magazinea publication dedicated to disseminating the work of non-binary artists and musicians, particularly guitarists and bassists.
In addition, Fabi was also part of musical projects such as the Cumbia/R&B band, Sávila, Raveena and more recently (from 2021 to 2023) accompanied Sleater-Kinney as support guitarist.
On the other hand, Nectali Díaz under the stage name Sumohair, already had something of a reputation in the Los Angeles Latin scene. He organized underground parties – the best known under the name Dinamita – where he highlighted folk music such as cumbia and other styles with a tropical essence combined with electronics.
Sumohair’s work encompassed more than just the music itself… Díaz has also been a notable activist since he founded the Papaya Club several years ago.an initiative whose goal was to raise funds for those in need in Latin America.
Start distributing your music
The strange thing about Reyna Tropical is this They started making music not with the aim of making it known to the masses.; They did it just for fun, so they only showed their creations to family and close friends. But talent can’t be hidden…
Six months after they met, they composed songs like “You don’t love me” or “Girl”characterized by Sumohair’s catchy electronic base, influenced by Moombathon, Afrobeat and Latin American rhythms of different textures, complemented by Fabi’s gentle guitar lines and hypnotic voice.
Thanks to these few songs, NPR’s Latin American department featured her in their section Songs we lovewhich would give them greater recognition, motivate them to disseminate their work on digital platforms… and thus represent an important advancement in their careers.
Playing with Bomba Estéreo
In January 2018, Reyna Tropical released her debut EP and a few other tracks with which they began to build a wider fan base. Until that moment, he had no plans to present his music live… but an unmissable opportunity would knock on his door.
They received a call from Liliana “Li” Saumet, singer of Bomba Estéreowith the idea that Fabi and Nectali’s project at the time would be opening acts for the Colombian band on a tour of the United States.
From one moment to the next, they transformed into a couple of friends who just wanted to have fun and get creative. to rehearse and put together a set that would allow them to demonstrate their qualities as a solid live project. This is how their first show came about, which they performed in Seattle in front of 2,000 spectators.
After the tour with Bomba Estéreo, a series of presentations for Reyna Tropical followed in 2019 at events such as South By Southwest (SXSW) and the Estéreo Beach Festival in Colombia. In doing so, they would reaffirm their place as a band to keep an eye on in the alternative Latin scene.
A hard moment that shaped Fabi: the death of Sumohair
The presentations continued, as did the release of some singles. There, the members of Reyna Tropical also took time for a musical journey that led them to explore the music of other countries Cartagena in Colombia, Fajardo in Puerto Rico and Cuaji in the Guerrero region of Mexico.
But there would come a moment that would shape Fabi himself in all of this… Nectali Díaz, Sumohair, his long-time music partner, died in July 2022.
Fabi continued with Reyna Tropical and set the stage for her debut album
Sumohair’s death was a huge blow not only to an incredible project, but also to Reyna, who had found her “musical soulmate.” But he decided to respect the legacy he had built with Nectalito continue the dream they had built.
Fabi overcame this with music. The proof is in the song “It will happen” from 2023, where the verse “Give time to suffering, recycle the pain and transform it into love.” He shows us his resilience in dealing with grief and loss.
What makes Reyna Tropical so special
Reyna Tropical has arrived Give a broader meaning to what Latin music really is. The influence of various Latin American rhythms, sounds and sound textures, from folkloric to electronic compositions, are the characteristic traces that Sumohair left in the project.
Styles like “Tropipop”, “Latin House” and “Alterlatino” could describe them, but this goes beyond these labels. And the whole thing is further enhanced by Fabi’s guitar talent, who is able to awaken a wide variety of emotions with his melancholic singing.
To this we must add the activist background behind the lyrics, the concept and the social motivations that brought Fabi and Nectali together; a duo with a belief in celebrating Latin American culture and the queer community among other things.
For this reason, the description of their platforms states that the band started as “A vision, a voice that shows so much the joys and injustices of life on the spectrum of queer love and Afro-Mexicanness“.
Reyna Tropical, now a solo project by Fabi Reyna, will release her debut album by 2024 miserywhose title is inspired by a song by Manu Chao. We want to hear it because it’s going to be absolutely amazing.