International jazz musician Fabiola Méndez and her cuatro

Fabiola Méndez: The Puerto Rican cuatro is a guitar-like instrument. It takes its name … from the original amount of strings that this instrument had when it was first developed in the mountains of Puerto Rico. The cuatro has evolved to now have five pairs of strings apart from its traditional four and four doubles, and the shape of it has also evolved. The modern five-double-string cuatros look like a large violin. I always like to say it’s like a guitar, a mandolin, a violin, all these instruments kind of blended together, but celebrating the country music of Puerto Rico, as you mentioned, with the roots of Spanish, Indigenous and Africans. It carries the history of Puerto Rico, the resilience of its people, and also the fact that every time you hear this instrument, it reminds you of being at your grandmother’s home.

Absolutely. So, as I mentioned, this music is rooted in the countryside of Puerto Rico, the mountains. So, a lot of the songs come from that blend of the Spanish and the Indigenous Taíno and Africans, which are basically the three main cultures that influence what Puerto Rico is today. And the cuatro was influenced by the Spanish guitars, by the Spanish vihuelas. In terms of the lyrics, a lot of the lyrics are about love for the land, patriotism, love for your family and for your roots. A lot of songs are about food, too, things we enjoy, of course. But then the genres of music are also influenced by those three cultures: Spanish, Indigenous and African. So, we have the décimas, which are these poetic song forms that come from Spain, but then we have the African rhythms and the grooves. We have the instruments from the Taínos, like the güiro and the maracas. So, it’s all kind of like this beautiful blend of who we are today that’s represented by all the cultures that have influenced us.

It was a dream. I mean, when you play traditional music, you kind of realize maybe there are some opportunities out there that won’t be accessible to me because I play folk music, because I play a traditional instrument. And then getting that call, I mean, for the longest time I was like, “Is this really happening? Really? Am I going to play a Tiny Desk Concert with Bad Bunny?” But it was great. We got to collaborate with him on the arrangements. We created these acoustic versions of some of the songs from his latest album. And I play with a colleague of mine, Luis Sanz, and he also plays cuatro, and we did all the traditional string instruments from Puerto Rico, and he was very open to what we had to contribute to the arrangements, and it was a collaborative project. And he’s so cool. When you get to talk to him, you feel like you’re talking to your friend from high school. Like, you’ve known him for a while. It feels like that.

Yes. After I graduated high school, and because I was surrounded by Puerto Rican folk music, I wanted to explore ways in which I could be challenged in different genres and learn about different cultures and different kinds of music. So, having that blessing of coming to Boston and attending Berklee gave me that opportunity. Not only to be pushed beyond my limits at that point in what I could do with the cuatro, but also learn about jazz from jazz musicians, learn about Brazilian music from Brazilian musicians, and so on. So, having the people who understand the music and the genres and the history, and getting to play with them, expanded my vision of what’s possible with the cuatro, and that’s what I bring to my original music today.

Yes, this song is influenced by the Cuban rhythm rumba, so you hear the clave. It’s kind of like the backbone of a lot of this music, and then the lyrics are inspired by a poem by Carmen Colombello that’s entitled “La Tierra es una Mulata,” talking about the Earth being a mixed-race woman. And I love that idea of thinking about the Earth and kind of personifying the Earth. And in the song, I expanded on that idea by talking about the sun and the moon and how these three elements — the Earth, the sun and the moon — become this beautiful mix that they need each other. And then, also, connecting that to how we all need each other. We might look different, and we might have different roles on Earth, but we all need each other to exist. So, it’s that concept. And then, musically, besides having the rumba clave and the groove, I wanted to explore with chords that are unconventional, that are not necessarily within a specific key. So, for those music nerds out there, such as myself, you’ll hear the track and hear that some of the harmonies sound very jazzy and very modern, and it’s because the influence of chords that come from different keys kind of merge together. So, it’s like this concept of also different things, different peoples, and then different chords mixed in together.

Exactly. I try to do that a lot with my compositions, and I incorporate the singing as a way to also share the stories and to connect with audiences even beyond my playing on the cuatro and really reflecting what is being said musically. Because not everyone speaks Spanish, but then you feel it, right? You feel the music, and you can kind of tell what it’s about, even if you don’t understand what I’m saying exactly.