So I’m putting the finishing touches on the launch events for Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass which comes out next month. And because it takes hours to work out all the details, I’m listening to music that puts me in the mood.
Yaqui Delgado takes a shard of truth from my personal life. I wrote this novel white-knuckled some days, thinking back to when I was an early teen facing down a schoolyard bully. I was learning everything about everything back then: learning about lousy adults, learning what it meant to be a Latina, learning how to really take care of myself when others couldn’t. It was a scary time, but all these years later, I find myself thinking a lot about all I took away from that experience.
It was a Puerto Rican girl, Aida, I remember most. She lived upstairs, cut school, and had bad acne but a hot boyfriend nonetheless. More importantly, she taught me to salsa. Sometimes she gave parties in her hot apartment with Celia Cruz and the Fania All Stars (Johnny Pacheco, Hector LaVoe, etc) blasting out of her mother’s stereo until the walls shook. When I think back to that time in my life, the soundtrack belongs to those old masters.
So, here’s a little YouTube gem of the late Celia Cruz fronting the band in Africa. And then, a more recent piece by Celia – Sin Clave– to get you in the spirit via Cuban music that (like a tough girl) is driven by its own, unerring beat or clave.
Celia With Fania All Stars 1974
Sin Clave
March 2013
YAQUI DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS will be in stores March 26, 2013.
Check here for reviews and info.
Check here for book launch event information
Brings back memories of an old flame who introduced me to Celia Cruz, Fania, and Willie Bobo. Whenever I need to get out of a rut or have low energy I just listen to this music.
Me, too, Alvara! Even when the lyrics are sad, the music is happy, right?
As a Boricua from the Bronx, my dad is obssessed with Fania still! I work at Random House children’s and love seeing Latina authors in the biz.
Nice to know we have you at Random House! Que bien!
Glad to be there! And I’m looking forward to Yaqui Delgado!