Keren Abreu is a singer-songwriter whose music is a multilingual blend of folk lyricism, pop melodies, and powerhouse vocals. Born and raised in the Bronx, New York and the proud daughter of Dominican immigrants, Keren’s musical journey has taken her from the pulpit of her childhood church to sold-out venues across New York City. ÉXITO, her debut EP released in 2020, is a 5-song exploration and celebration of queerness, Afro-Latinidad, spirituality, and the people and places she calls home.
Hello, my name is Keren Abreu. I am a singer and songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York. I’m really excited to be sharing a ListN Up playlist today. I’ve chosen some songs that inspired me early on, some songs that I keep returning to, and some songs that explore some of the themes that I’m working through in my own music. I hope that it brings you some joy, and thanks for listening.
“Ojala que Llueva Cafe en el Campo” by Juan Luis Guerra
Growing up in an Evangelical household meant there wasn’t a lot of “worldly” music (i.e. non-Christian music) playing in our home. The one artist that was an exception to that rule was Juan Luis Guerra, one of the most acclaimed, decorated, and revered Latin artists, and the pride of the Dominican Republic. This song is a portal into the early sounds that impacted and inspired me.
“His Eye is on the Sparrow” by Civilla D. Martin and Charles H. Gabriel, Performed by Mahalia Jackson
It was through religious/spiritual music that I first developed my relationship to my voice, and I’ve always felt connected to the idea that singing is a gift from a higher power. I love this song, and particularly Mahalia Jackson’s use of vocal dynamics throughout. There is so much emotional expression with a simple change in volume and placement. After my grandmother passed away, I learned that the Spanish version of His Eye is on the Sparrow was her favorite hymn, and it has since brought me a lot of comfort.
“Remind Me” by Emily King
In 2016, some friends had a spare ticket to an Emily King concert at Music Hall of Williamsburg – I didn’t know who she was, but I went to the concert, ended up right at the lip of the stage, and spent the next two hours transfixed. I have since gone to 13 Emily King concerts, and I’ve picked this song for the playlist because discovering her music was like finding “what I’ve been missing.”
“Diddy Bop” by Noname, ft. Raury, Cam O’bi
I love songs about place. Every lyric in this song touches on one of my five senses, and for 3 minutes and 28 seconds I’m a sweaty kid in Chicago running home “with stars in my pocket, dreaming bout making my hood glow.” I also want to flag this really profound interview with Noname (Fatimah Nyeema Warner) in Crack Magazine, which I have been coming back to a lot as I work through my own feelings of what it means to make art that is politically aware, but also encompasses all aspects of our own humanity.
“Tú Sí Sabes Quererme (en manos de Los Macorinos)” by Natalia Lafourcade
I’m still working my way through Natalia Lafourcade’s diverse catalog of music. I love how you can hear so many different influences in her sound. Every album feels like a new era in her artistic journey. This song is from my favorite album of hers, Musas: Un Homenaje al Folclore Latinoamericano en Manos de Los Macorinos, Vol. 1. This album is a mix of original songs and covers that pay homage to Latin American folk music, all recorded in conjunction with the storied guitar duo Los Macorinos.
“If it Floats” by FORAGER
My favorite band! My favorite song! I love to listen to this song with my eyes closed, and imagine that anything is possible – that love, and a fervent belief in the existence of a better tomorrow, are more important than that which we don’t know!
“Colossus of Roads” by Hurray for the Riff Raff
This artist and song are newer arrivals in my life. The poetry in these lyrics is halting to me, and before I knew anything about it, I felt the queer threads in the storytelling like a warm embrace. When looking up the lyrics, I found this commentary that Alynda Segarra (Hurray for the Riff Raff) had written about this song:
“I wrote this song in one sitting after hearing about the Club Q shooting in Colorado. I sat on the couch and cried and wrote this. It is my love song to queerness and outsider culture existing amidst violence. This work is a collage of hobo art references (buZ blurr: The Colossus of Roads, also grease marker writings on oil cans) radical poetry (Eileen Myles: “I Must Be Living Twice”). My favorite song of mine to date: this one is sacred to me.”
“Sugar” by Keren Abreu
I spent a majority of my life closeted, consuming queer content in secret. In 2019, when I was in my first queer relationship, this song came to me all at once, and I can still feel some of the nervous excitement of performing it live for the very first time. We almost didn’t record it for the EP, because I didn’t quite feel ready to share it, but when my producer Stephen saw how much fun I had singing it live, we pivoted and made sure it was on the album.
“En Guayubin No Llueve” by Keren Abreu
I wrote En Guayubín No Llueve (translation: It doesn’t rain in Guayubín) after a family trip to the Dominican Republic in 2019, when we visited the home of my paternal grandmother, Mamá, in the north of the country, a town in Monte Cristi called Guayubín. We only spent four days in Guayubín, but in that short time I saw the beautiful dichotomy of absence and abundance, aridity and fecundity.
In the days we were there, Guayubín was counting its eighth month without rain. The drought was starving my uncle’s cows, and the cement floors of my grandmother’s house were coming apart, split by the bone-dry earth beneath them. And yet despite the lack of water, the plantains, yuca, and tamarind were growing abundantly on the farm, and there was still joy, celebration, and community in the face of immense hardship. I felt inspired by the resilience of the crops and of the people that tended to them, and so I wrote this prayer for rain.
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