Hispanic Heritage Month spotlight: Lesly Reynaga
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With the release of her debut album Valerosa, Lesly Reynaga is fusing together the best parts of the musical worlds she was raised on. A majority of the 12 songs on the album are sung in Spanish, but there’s still a tinge of the American pop music that was the soundtrack of her early years.
Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Reynaga moved to Texas at 16, leaving behind her mother and siblings to join her father in McAllen. It was there that she began to spread her musical wings, taking an elective guitar class and following a path that eventually led her to the music that encompassed her childhood.
Lesly Reynaga Finds New Inspiration in Tradition
Lesly Reynaga might have been born in Monterrey, Mexico, but it wasn’t until she moved to Texas that mariachi music really became a part of her life.
Reynaga just released her debut album, Valerosa, an ultra-modern take on mariachi’s folkloric past. Yet she came to appreciate the legacy and the beauty of the music slowly, over time.
Lesly Reynaga Seeks Mariachi's Modern Moment With Valerosa
After bringing a full mariachi band onstage last year at Austin City Limits, the first Mexican singer to do so in the festival's two decades, Lesly Reynaga wants to keep thinking big. Her recent debut at another fest by local C3 Presents, Lollapalooza, was a similar major feat: A 12-piece student mariachi ensemble and a folklórico dancer trio from Northwestern University quite literally kicked off the weekend. She warmed up audiences with the romping sounds of brass instruments and deep-bodied acoustic guitars.
Inspirada por la musica mariachi, Lesly Reynaga tocará en The Drop el 25 de agosto
Catch Lesly Reynaga's mariachi bops when she plays the Drop at Waterloo Records on Aug. 25
PHOTOS: Lollapalooza 2023 Day 1 highlights
Lanza primer álbum
‘An Actual Phenomenon’: Lollapalooza Days One and Two
Thursday, Aug. 3
Emerging Latin pop singer Lesly Reynaga dazzled the weekend’s first arrivals at the BACARDÍ Stage. Performing tracks from her 2023 album “Valerosa,” Reynaga’s set exuded sultry charm, accompanied by four folklórico dancers and Northwestern University’s mariachi band, Mariachi Northwestern.
Following Lollapalooza performance, Mariachi Northwestern looks to the future
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Musician Lesly Reynaga makes ACL Music Fest History
Go with us as we put the Austin in ACL Fest: Lesly Reynaga, Como Las Movies and Good Looks
Lesly Reynaga drops new music at ACL Fest 2022
La Mujer Festival in Austin
'Dual Passport' review by The Austin Chronicle
Reviewed by Alejandra Ramirez
"America," Lesly Reynaga accents with a playful, Latin-tinged cadence, "You were foreign, now you're mine." So goes the singer's proclamation of her Mexican-American identity on opener "All American Girl." This cultural and lingual fusion powers her sophomore effort Dual Passport, which marks Reynaga's ascension as one of Austin's most formidable pop songwriters…
Lesly Reynaga speaks her truth on ‘Dual Passport’
By Deborah Sengupta Stith
“All American Girl,” the lead track from Lesly Reynaga’s sophomore EP, “Dual Passport,” is an open-eyed love song, dedicated to the fiery 27-year-old’s adopted homeland.
“En Espanol or en Inglés, I am an all American girl,” Reynaga declares with a soaring vocal flourish. “Haters going to hate, but I am here to stay,” she adds moments later…
What were the best Austin records of 2018? We take a long look
Lesly Reynaga, “Dual Passport” EP
By Peter Blackstock
Following up last year’s five-song “Fool’s Paradise,” Reynaga once again works with renowned producer Michael Ramos here but also brings local standouts AJ Vallejo and Graham Reynolds into the picture for a six-song disc that was recorded in four different studios… At 26, Reynaga has the potential to be an Austin breakout star.
