On the next episode of “KRWG Music Spotlight,” airing at 10pm Saturday on KRWG-TV, host Scott Brocato’s guests will be Papayas Con Chile. The trio’s mix of musical genres has been described as a “street music explosion, with sounds of the border and from the banks of the Rio Grande.” In this preview of Saturday night’s episode, Scott Brocato talks with Papayas Con Chile drummer and vocalist Celina Corral and rhythm guitarist and vocalist Kayla Martinez.
Scott Brocato:
Celina, let's start with you. Talk about how and when Papayas Con Chile was formed.
Celina Corral:
We started around 2017. Kayla and I decided to have some kind of experimental thing going on. At the time I was playing solo and I met Kayla, I realized that she played guitar, invited her in, and then we started experimenting with a lot of different things. At the time I didn't have a drum set. I started building some kind of like monster drum kit. Kayla even tried playing the sax and then eventually we became Dos Papayas, because there was only two of us, and then eventually this guy joined us and we changed our name to Papayas Con Chile.
Scott Brocato:
This guy was not Israel (Chávez) at this point, right?
Celina Corral:
No, this was another friend of ours.
Scott Brocato:
So did you know each other from school? How did you know each other?
Celina Corral:
From Capoeira. We used to practice martial arts; this is a Brazilian martial arts. We used to practice that together.
Scott Brocato:
And Kayla, how long have you been playing? Did you start on guitar?
Kayla Martinez:
I guess I could say that I did start playing guitar. My mom is a musician, and so she taught me how to play starting off. And then I went into school, and I started playing in a band, the saxophone, and then I played in the mariachis. And then eventually I did come back to the guitar.
Scott Brocato:
How would you two describe your sound?
Celina Corral:
It is an explosion of sounds. We call it that because we've played for so long and we play so many different genres and sometimes we combine them. Like, for example, we do cumbia, but our cumbia is not just a regular cumbia. It has a little bit of punk in it or a little bit of folk in it. And then we do other types of music that could sound like norteñas, but then again, it has a little bit, it has a kick to it. So we do say that we blend sounds from the border. because we have some of the norteñas, some of the South, some of the middle, and cumbia is rock.
Scott Brocato:
We mentioned Israel (Chávez) a while ago—we'll meet him in a moment--when did he join the band?
Celina Corral:
Last November, last year. Yes, he's been playing with us for a year, so it's been great.
Scott Brocato:
So let's talk about the last song you played. Celina, you wrote this, I believe: “Mariposa.” One verse in an English translation says, “I want to visit the border without a passport and fly as high as the sun. I want to be free in my own home, but with you in charge, I can't even swim.” What inspired you to write that, and the rest of the song?
Celina Corral:
Yes, well, I'm from Ciudad Juarez, and I've lived all my life through as a border kid. I'm jumping back and forth and living the privileges from both sides, and also the downsides to both of those.
This song is a protest song. I got really inspired after the Ayotzinapa, the students disappeared. And just all the pain that we go through with the immigration problems right now, with all the ICE and all this stuff happening and people getting kidnapped, you know. I'm a very political person. So expressing this through a song and finding some kind of relief and hopefully helping people to relate to it and feel something with it and heal something within is the goal of the song and the purpose.
Scott Brocato:
And Kayla, would you like to add something to that about the song and the situation at the border? I was going to ask both of you about that, your feelings...
Kayla Martinez:
Yeah, I think that song is super magical. It touches my heart, and I see it reach so many people when we play in public. And my favorite part is a verse that talks about teachers, being a teacher of students. And I'm a teacher in this area, so it means a lot to me that hopefully my kids can also listen to it one day, and hopefully that will also heal some of the pain and maybe give them those wings that they need to fly and do what they want to.
Scott Brocato:
What sort of themes, going back to your songwriting process, are you drawn to? Romance, political things? What is your general process, especially when the two of you write together?
Celina Corral:
I think it depends on how we're feeling. You know, as an artist, you are always confronting, like, expression. You're always confronting, how do I express something, or how do I acknowledge something, right?
And I think that everything is political. Everything now from having a bed to not having a bed is political. So in any case, right, like whether it's love or whether it's family or whether whatever thing we're touching, whatever trauma, whatever pain we're touching, it's still political, I think.
Scott Brocato:
And Kayla?
Kayla Martinez:
I think it does go back and forth. Sometimes we're feeling a little silly and groovy, and sometimes we write songs that relate to memories or trying to reach certain people along the Rio Grande.
Scott Brocato:
Are you working on any new music right now? Celina?
Celina Corral:
Yeah, we are. We're also working on recording. We're recording almost everything that we have, and then we're creating new stuff too. It's a balance that we're getting into.
Kayla Martinez:
Yeah, we just started a new seasonal jam coming soon. Come check it out! It's kind of like a cumbia that flows and fluctuates with the different celebrations throughout the year.
