Sila Lua Redefines Baroque in New EP Hacer Teatro

“In Baroque art movement tends to be centrifugal, a restlessness away from the centre, as opposed to the classical impulse of restraint.” – Chloe Aridjis

Heavy layers of cultural history embellish Lua’s new EP, Hacer Teatro, released in July 2024. She is tethered to the long lineage of Hispanic and Latin American music, displaying her perpetual rope in the tantalising combination of beats, bass and stream of consciousness lyricism. In HT Lua pays homage to Dominican dembow in the rhythms of standout track ‘Brazil’, while toying with Rio De Janiro’s carioca funk in its bassline. She evokes the poetic sensibilities of Venezuela’s resident tonadero, Simon Diaz in ‘Equiliibrio’ and finds her namesake track’s raison d'être via Celia Cruz’ own call to arms in salsa classic, ‘La Vida Es Un Carnaval’. I sat down with Lua to get to the core of Hacer Teatro, to examine its baroque ethos and understand how she incorporates it throughout her music, style and online presence.

Elida

I've approached this interview thinking about Hacer Teatro, I wanted to start oU by asking what this meant to you? I don't necessarily mean the literal translation of it but rather the whole concept behind it.

Sila

Yeah. So it literally means "do theater". I wrote it thinking about this theatrical component of taking things. You know? It's a way to, not take myself less serious, but to have a different approach, have more fun and [have a] performative aspect.

I think that in this album I really tried to think of myself a bit lighter. To not be afraid, to be more vulnerable or to be mistaken. To be more of what I am and less what I want to. To me "theater" is to try with whatever you have. 

Elida

I love that. I also wanted to ask about ‘Brazil’ in particular. I could hear in the track that you introduced more tropical rhythms than you had in your previous work. So, I wanted to know your inspirations behind the fluctuations in tempo. 

Sila

For this new project, I was really inspired by Latin music, but... all of Latin music. In ‘Brazil’, for example, there's a big influence and a big inspiration from funk, carioca funk. It's a genre from Brazil. It was born in a similar way that hip hop did in the US and that reggaeton did also in all Latin America. It was really fun because I got to do this song in Brazil with two really good Brazilian producers, Marcio Arantes and DJ Gabriel Do Borel.

DJ Gabriel Do Borel has worked with big Spanish artists like Rosalia or Bad Gyal, so it was really inspiring. I wanted to use that Brazilian inspiration as a part of these whole Latin inspired beats and Latin inspired melodies. Before I used to do more, not rapping, but I would say “spoken style” in the vocals. For this song, for example, I really try to be more melodic. Have more fun. I was looking for songs that in some way want to make you dance. 

Elida

It definitely does make you want to dance. I'm Latina myself and listening to it I could recognize it in that movement. I really connected with that song because of that. There's this aspect of playfulness to it that I think really comes out.

Sila

Its inspired by dembow, a beat from Dominican Republic.

Elida

I read that you had studied music production in London. I wanted to know how you thought about tempo because in these pieces, you can really sense that you know what you're doing with tempo and that it's a preoccupation for you. I just want to hear your thoughts on how you approach a new track.

Sila

Normally, it's from the lyrics. I started making music because I love to write. And I started when I was 14, writing my poetry and then it happened that in London I started to study music production. I learned how to build songs, but from the idea, always from what I want to say. Then I try and find the best companion for these lyrics or for this idea. Obviously, I'm also thinking of genres or inspirations when I'm doing an album, especially if I'm looking for something to be a bit more playful.

I think that this album also is more from the earth. I don't know how to say it. Like, less mental, less intellectual. I think that the way it progressed is to connect with powerful rhythms, old rhythms. At the end of the day, Latin music, or most of it, is a mixture of African music and in the Spanish speaking countries, Spanish music, like guitars and classic guitars. There is all of this inspiration.

Elida

When you're researching to think about an album and prepare it for yourself in your mind, what are some artists that you gravitate towards?

Sila

For this album, especially, I have been listening to a lot of salsas. I really love Venezuelan music, this genre that is called tonadas. There are songs that all of the lyrics are about nature and they are popular lyrics, but they’re full of poetry and the melodies are so beautiful. For example, Simon Diaz

Elida

Oh, I love Simon Diaz.

Sila

or Soledad bravo. They were Spanish but lived and grew up in in Venezuela. I was really inspired in that. There is not a tonada, per se, on the album but I was really inspired by that. 

Also [Max] Salazar, Willie Colon, Ruben Blades. I tried to listen to more of the Latin classics that I didn't really know about that much. I really wanted to listen to the roots of Latin music, African music and get inspired by that. Mix it with my own style that is more electronic and more punchy.

Elida

I've seen that previously you've mixed Spanish and English lyrics. But for the most part in Hacer Teatro it's in Spanish. I wanted to know if you've ever experienced pressure to write in English and how you stick to writing in your native language?

Silla

When I lived in London and I started making music, I knew that it had a limit to singing in Spanish. But I have to say that even though I tried to sing in English, I just feel that I express myself way better in in Spanish. I think that it's a language that I connect more with. I found that because English is very specific it’s like there is a word for everything. In Spanish, you have to say a lot of words to say one thing, I feel that it's more romantic, more baroque in a sense.

Elida

It's refreshing to see that someone's kind of doing it in a way that it's true to themselves. I really like that.

I was thinking a lot about fashion and musicians that present themselves in a specific way, like the New York Dolls, Lady Gaga or Juan Gabriel. From seeing, your online presence, I can tell that fashion is something that you're interested in. I want to know if you approach clothes as a way of extending the presence of your music or if it's a completely separate thing? 

Sila

I think it’s the music and everything that surrounds the music. That includes how I plan my live shows. But it also has to do with how I dress. For me, clothing has always been a way of expressing myself even before I had my own project. How you get on stage, how you are dressed on a music video, how you come up on social media, I think that can also be creative in a way. It's not creating a character, but it’s dressing your music, your project and what you want to say.