Grecia Albán – Nubes Selva (Folkalist Records, 2025)
Charmind Ecuadorian singer and songwriter Grecia Albán makes her label debut with Nubes Selva (“Cloud Jungle”), an album that reimagines South American folk through a contemporary lens. Nubes Selva interweaves enticing traditional rhythms with modern production, combining voices, drums, guitars, horns, synthesizers, and samples. All this exemplifies the musical influences that bring together indigenous, Spanish and African musical instruments and song traditions.
Nubes Selva is deeply steeped in Ecuadorian folklore yet shaped by global influences. It draws on American folk, jazz, and electronica. With her lovely, nuances and deeply expressive voice, Albán also incorporates rhythms from across Spanish-speaking South America, including Peruvian festejo, Colombian mapalé, and Uruguayan candombe. She sings in both Spanish and Kichwa, weaving personal and collective histories into the fabric of each song.
The album’s lyrical themes are grounded in place and memory, especially Cotopaxi, where Albán spent part of her childhood and to which she often returns. The region’s cultural mix of Andean indigenous and mestizo traditions serves as a backdrop to many of her narratives. As she explains, “My music is a nod to the need to value these traditions, without forgetting that I live in modern times and that I like music from many different places.”
Through layered arrangements and multilingual storytelling, Albán evokes images of volcanoes, jungles, and ancestral knowledge. Tracks such as “Todo Pasa” offer gentle reflections through a childlike lens, while songs like “Huaco del Volcán” explore ritual and myth. Her musical spirit is perhaps best captured in a story she recounts: when asking her mother why she kept buying hand-woven baskets despite already having many, her mother replied, “So that they keep making them.” For Albán, reviving traditional sounds is akin to continuing that weave.
Musicians: Grecia Albán on lead vocals, selva voices, backing vocals, chico drum; Miguel Sevilla on synths, music programming, piano, Rhodes, sax, clarinet, cavaquinho, guitar, backing vocals; Alex Alvear on bass, guitar, ronroco, percussion; Atahualpa Albán on Andean snare, repique drum; Ricardo Pita on lead vocals, backing vocals; Diana Gallegos on clarinet; Carolina Puruncajas on piano; Ana Cachimuel on backing vocals; Lyzbeth Badaraco on Wurlitzer; Zak Icaza on drums; Marcelino Peralta on piano drum; Diego Minda – congas, güiro; Yony Muñoz on trombone; Fernando Gallegos on trumpet; Kevin Santos on zambo bass drum, guasá; Fidel Minda – cununo, guasá, bongo drum, Peruvian cajón; and Juan Luzuriaga, forest recordings.
Selected Track Highlights
- Virgen y Volcán – A portrait of religious syncretism.
- Maru – A tribute to maternal love, using the jungle as metaphor.
- Uku Ñan – An introspective song about finding an ocean within.
- Río Mar – A return to 1980s-inspired Latin American electronic sounds.
- Todo Pasa – A hopeful children’s song with a light, playful tone.
- Con Mi Tambor – A solitary rhythm expressing longing and distance.
All music composed by Grecia Albán & Miguel Sevilla. Lyrics by Albán, with contributions from Ana Cachimuel, Ricardo Pita, Sofía Rei, and others. The album was co-produced by Kavita Shah and Jayme Stone, and mixed/mastered by Jeremy Loucas at Sear Sound Studio B.
Buy Nubes Selva.
Author: Iliana Cabrera
