Ayala
“Ayala is fascinated by the fact that, in Mexico, young people are also aficionados of Mexican folk music.”
Ayala: Life is Here for Singing
The British jazz-pop singer inspires us with Mexican fusion tunes.
WRITTEN BY DR BIRGITTA HUSE, 13.09.2019
“Life is here for living” is a line in one of Ayala’s songs. If we think of listening to music and being moved by it as part of intense living, Ayala certainly gave us an evening filled with life in the best sense of the word. The British singer, now living in Mexico, and her band intrigued with a broad variety of her creations from (Latin American) classics in a new interpretation and new songs with influences of Mexican folklore music. Especially amongst the Mexican-influenced pieces we heard very catchy tunes, one of which is still with me until now. I found “Que quieres de mi” (what do you want from me) performed in Spanglish, Spanish and English, most fascinating. More so, as it was a great pleasure to listen to Ayala’s flawless Spanish. “Que quieres de mi” is a collaboration with Grammy winning banda star Horacio Palencia and Cuban star El Chacal, who is based in Miami, and can be seen as a stunning video by Finnian Moore and Philip McKee.
In her song “Uphill” Ayala tells us about the struggle of making a living in the career in the arts. Though a serious subject, Ayala leaves us inspired as she adds a good sense of humour. “Uphill” is a Cumbia with a twist. The single produced together with Los Rumberos is out now and a clear evidence for Ayala’s inspiration she found in Mexico. As she told us during her gig at Pizza Express Live in London, she is fascinated by the fact that in Mexico young people are also aficionados of Mexican folk music, even more, that it is the thing to listen to. Ayala makes us enjoy the sound of a tuba in one of her songs as the tuba is part of traditional northern Mexican music with its origins in German music. In Mazatlán in the state of Sinaloa, for instance, brass instruments are always part of the typical bandas and play a major role during carnival.
A very special moment of the evening was the singers’ presentation of one of her so far unpublished songs she wrote around ten years ago. I was happy to hear that she has plans to release this material in the future as I would love to hear more of these kind of inspiring contents and tunes.
To sum up: Ayala is definitely “singing her way uphill” and I suppose she is very near to the very top of the hill. Her texts are thought provoking and uplifting at the same time, the inclusion of Mexican folklore music sounds very natural and flows into our ears and minds, and our eyes are delighted with seeing an artist who obviously represents her new essence and feels very comfortable in her Mexican-like dress style. The inspiring videos add to this with showing real Mexican street life scenes, for example shoe shining or selling food. Brava!
For more information visit www.musicofayala.com