La Otra

by Sofia Rei

supported by

ayelet rose gottlieb איילת רוז גוטליב thumbnail

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$1 USD or more
Full Digital Discography

7

releases

Get all 7 Sofia Rei releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Coplas Escondidas, Umbral, La Otra, Negro Sobre Blanco, El Gavilan, De Tierra y Oro, and Sube Azul. , and , .

Purchasable with gift card

$41.59 USD or more (20% OFF)

about

Although Sofia Rei is based in New York, it was a recent trip to Elqui Valley in Chile that inspired her latest single “La Otra”—or rather her entire forthcoming album UMBRAL, which is out this June. Rei set off to journey Chilean terrain, bags of recording equipment in hand, to prepare for her anticipated third album of solo material. She describes Elqui as “a magical place, surrounded by beautifully colored mountains, clear skies 300 days out of the year, and a very particular energy.” It is also the birthplace of the masterful poet and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Literature Gabriela Mistral, whose poem came to be the inspiration for the album’s opening track. Over booming drum beats and chirping flute embellishments, “La Otra” is an exciting tribute to Mistral with instrumentation based in Colombian dance music.

Rei details further how the track came about: “While there, I found a book of her poetry and on it, this beautiful poem called ‘La Otra’ (The Other, or the Other Woman). I felt that it was describing me and the exact landscape I was witnessing. It really hit me. And I wrote a song with it. My interpretation, which I am not sure if it was her intention, was that she was describing a process of rebirthing, transformation. ‘I killed a woman in me—the one I did not love.'”

“I built the structure of the song using vocal loops since I had a looping machine and an effects processor with me. Then with my producer JC Maillard we injected into the song the DNA of a Colombian dance called ‘seresesé’ and we emphasized the contrast between bright sequenced chopped vocals, gritty dark heavy bass and samples of Andean flutes.”

lyrics

LA OTRA (poem by Gabriela Mistral- Music by Sofía Rei)

Era la flor llameando del cactus de montaña
Era aridez y fuego, nunca se refrescaba
Piedra y cielo tenía a pies y espaldas
y no bajaba nunca a buscar ojos de agua

Ojos de agua

Donde hacía su siesta las hierbas se enroscaban
De aliento de su boca y brasa de su cara
Doblarse no sabía la planta de montaña
y al costado de ella, yo me doblaba

La dejé que muriese robándole mi entraña
Se acabó como el águila que no es alimentada

Por ella todavía me gimen sus hermanas
Y las gredas de fuego al pasar me desgarran
Cruzando yo les digo: buscad por las quebradas
Y haced con las arcillas otra águila abrasada

Si no podéis entonces
Ay, olvidadla
Yo la maté y vosotras
También matadla

Una en mí yo maté,
Ya no la amaba

credits

released April 30, 2021
Lyrics by Gabriela Mistral
Music by Sofia Rei
Sofia Rei: Vocals
JC Maillard: Producer, Arranger, Recording Engineer, Guitar, Back up
vocals, Bass Synth
Jorge Glem: Cuatro
Franco Pinna: Drums
Fab Dupont: Mixing Engineer
Bob Power: Mastering Engineer

license

about

Sofia Rei New York, New York

Sofia Rei is a Grammy nominated vocalist, songwriter and producer from Buenos Aires, Argentina and based in New York City. Her music explores connections between the various traditions of South American folklore, jazz, experimental pop and electronic sounds. She has collaborated with artists such as John Zorn, Maria Schneider, Bobby McFerrin, Pedrito Martinez and Lionel Loueke. ... more

sofiamusic.com

contact / help

Contact Sofia Rei

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Sofia Rei, you may also like:

Estraik Back
by Los Esplifs

Tuscon outfit Los Esplifs keep vibes high with a combination of cumbia, psychedelia, and old-fashioned rock and roll. Bandcamp New & Notable May 6, 2021
go to album
Mujeres
by Y La Bamba

featured on Bandcamp Radio Feb 5, 2019
go to album
Capricho Del Diablo
by San Cha

Mixing cumbia with Mexican folk, goth, and an experimental approach, San Cha creates a uniquely personal yet emotionally resonant sound. Bandcamp Album of the Day Jul 11, 2018
go to album
The Woman At The End Of The World (A Mulher Do Fim Do Mundo)
by Elza Soares

featured on Bandcamp Radio Mar 15, 2016
go to album
Sound and Vision
by Helado Negro

featured on Bandcamp Radio Mar 2, 2021
go to album
PHASOR
by Helado Negro

featured on Bandcamp Radio Nov 21, 2023
go to album
MAYAHUEL
by SÁVILA

The Mexican-American trio deliver “music for our ancestors, made for the club.” Bandcamp Album of the Day Jun 16, 2021
go to album