San Cha

vocalist and musician

San Cha's music combines elements of cumbia, bolero, punk, and electro, held aloft by her extravagant, classically-trained voice. She cut her teeth in the Bay Area underground, taking her name from the Spanish word for “mistress” while also playing on "San," the prefix used in naming male saints. Sensing a need to break free from her increasingly constricted life in San Francisco — where she was "hanging around drag queens and always drunk" — she decamped to her family's rural farm in Jalisco, Mexico, where she unexpectedly reconnected with the ranchera tradition. In 2016, she released "Me Demandó," a cassette of home demos recorded during that period. She subsequently moved to LA and released “La Luz De La Esperanza," a luxuriant musical telenovela and performance piece at the Vibiana Cathedral, which kicked off the 2019 Red Bull Music Festival.

San Cha on KCRW

Vocalist/musician San Cha joins KCRW’s Private Playlist to talk about thinking big in a shrinking world; the universal appeal of Juan Gabriel; the enduring hope of Chavela Vargas; and…

Private Playlist: San Cha believes we can create, no matter our circumstances

Vocalist/musician San Cha joins KCRW’s Private Playlist to talk about thinking big in a shrinking world; the universal appeal of Juan Gabriel; the enduring hope of Chavela Vargas; and…

from Music Special Programming

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