Season 3, Episode 6:  “Questioning Everything" ft Lupita Infante

Narration: When I was a kid, I used to wish that I had been born into a musical family. Ok, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade my parents for anything, but somewhere inside my little girl singer's mind, I wanted to be immersed in a musical world every single minute of every single day. 

I had this fantasy of what it would be like to have voice lessons at the kitchen table with my parents. They would have taught me to play an instrument by the time I was reading full sentences. I used to imagine music being taught to me with the same priority as being taught how to tie my shoes, or how to brush my teeth.

And I would take it even further. I’d think, what if I were born into a musical family that was legendary? What would it be like to be Tracy Chapman’s kid,  handed an acoustic guitar before I could even carry it. Or Chaka Khan’s pride and joy, following her from mic to mic? Would it be a gift? Would it be hard to carve my own music career? What would they expect of me? 

When I sift through all those old daydreams from the perspective of an adult, I know that there must be more to the story of musical families. Family is never that simple. Reality is always more complicated. So I love talking to people who actually did have this experience. And I found the perfect person to dig into all this with. 

My name is Meklit and this is Movement, music and migration, remixed. 

Lupita: I think a lot of my journey is kind of anchored through my grandfather's. Story and life and what happened after his death.

Narration: I’m talking to Lupita Infante, the granddaughter of Pedro Infante. If you’re listening from Mexico I very likely don’t have to tell you who that is.

But if you don’t know, Pedro Infante was Mexico’s “James Dean” and “Frank Sinatra” rolled into one. From the 1930s to the 1950s.  His good looks, charisma, and on-screen charm helped him star in more than 60 films. And his voice is captured on more than 350 songs. Some say his voice defined mariachi, ranchera, and bolero music.

But he died young. He was 39 years old when his plane crashed in 1957.  His sudden and dramatic death turned him into an immortal icon. 

His voice and his name lives on in his granddaughter, Lupita Infante.

Lupita is an artist in her own right. And I’m trying to get to know her story separate from her grandfather.

Lupita:  I joke about this with other people. There's always these like women empowerment interviews and praising.

Meklit: Mm-hmm.

Lupita: But then somehow, some way, my grandfather always makes his way in and it's just like overshadows the whole thing

Meklit:  I hear what you're saying where it's like, can't the story just be about you?

Lupita: And then I also feel like, oh, well I can't talk about how there is this kind of like wrestling and this overshadowing. 'cause then I look like, oh, well what, you're not proud of it. Like, oh, well are you undermining this legacy?

Meklit: Oh my Goodness.

Narration: Lupita’s grandfather wasn’t the only name that could sometimes be a lot to carry. Her father had the same name too! Pedro Infante Junior. And he was also a movie actor and performer.

For how much presence these two men play in her career as a singer, Lupita never met her grandfather and growing up, her father was in and out of the picture. 

Lupita: Sometimes I'd see my mom like just really cleaning up the house and I'd be like, oh, is my dad coming over? And when my dad was around, we'd go to concerts and watch him perform. And sometimes he would have me sing with him too. He'd bring me up on stage

Meklit: Just at home? Oh, he would?

Lupita: Yeah, he would, yeah. I mean, he would do that since I was a baby. I think I'd probably just like try to bite the microphone or something like that, but he'd always kind of like present me and just like a proud father, but eventually as I got older, I would sing a specific song, Cien Años with him. And it's a song that my grandfather is really well known for.

Meklit:  Is there like one memory of a particular show that you have?

Lupita:  I remember, okay, so I think it was like a cousin's birthday and my dad would perform regularly at this restaurant nightclub. And so the whole family showed up. To celebrate this cousin. 

The nightclub was like, I don't know, it's so Night Clubby. It's this nightclub called, El Premier, in Bell Gardens right across the street from this casino. You walk in and the hallway it's like these mirror, panels, and it's just kind of like such a vibe.

 And then I remember just everyone was kind of looking forward for me to go up and sing this song, Cien años.  I was kind of going through the motions, but then at the same time, I think I was feeling like a lot of feelings towards it, but not really knowing why.

Or like, why do I feel so much pressure? Why does everyone want me to sing? Why does everyone, you know, like love my dad? And until later realizing, and even until now, just seeing like, oh yeah, like he was kind of a big deal. And he really knew how to engage an audience. 

And, for me that was very, you know, intriguing to watch him. 'cause it's kind of like, whoa, I can't believe he's making everybody laugh. And he has him in the palm of his hand. And it was just like, it was just like magic, you know? 

So that was kind of my experience with my dad up until my teenage years when I kind of realized, you know, who he was being like as a man, as a father, as a partner to my mom. Then I started kind of begrudging him. I think I was just mad 'cause my mom just loved him unconditionally all the time. And I was just like, Ew. It's just like, why? 

You know, like, and, and I remember as a kid I would just like, I would tell my mom like, why didn't you just pick a normal dad for me? You know, I was angry because it, there's so many things that come with like, having a father who is, you know, in that industry. And who's so well known.

And you know, I remember going to school and it's like, oh, you know, your dad or your grandfather, they're like, that's not true. And then he'd show up to school and it was like, oh my God. Like, oh, you know, it was such a big deal. So, you know, I think there was a lot of different resentments and hurts with my dad.

And on top of that, you know, he wasn't like, I wanna say, I mean, not to talk crap about my dad, but he wasn't like a super responsible father.

Narration: She was 22 years-old and studying music at community college when her dad passed away. The sudden loss of her father is ultimately what led Lupita to a career in music. 

Lupita: I think when he passed away I really felt an absence of like that presence of my father,

Meklit: Mm-hmm.

Lupita: that legacy, even the music that came with being around him. And I think that's kind of when I started shifting and started performing. The more traditional music and learning about the mariachi community in LA and when I would show up to these different restaurants where these groups would play, a lot of them knew who my dad was. So it was kind of easy to connect with them and they would always like, Hey, do you wanna come sing a song with us on stage? And that, I think that's just kind of how it started, where it's like, yeah, sure, I'll sing a song you know, when you're young, you're kind of fearless and you just

Meklit: Oh yeah.

Lupita: You throw yourself into any kind of fire. You know, I was like on a mission and I think part of really finding community in this music and finding like my own voice, it really healed a lot of hurts that I had been feeling for a long time. And I was able to really express, 'cause a lot of the songs in Mexican folk music, they're like, a desahogo, like an unburdening.

Meklit: Mm.

Lupita: And you're talking about heartbreak and it's very just soulful and I feel like you can just, if you just open up

Meklit: Mm-hmm.

Lupita: the heart and it is kind of like a big release of emotions. And I think I really rode that wave or train to where like I needed an outlet.

Narration: So Lupita’s music has been influenced by these big patriarchs, by their presence and their absence. But Lupita’s dad's side isn't the only legacy that she carries, or the only side that has influenced her life as an artist. 

Meklit: So let's rewind. Can we talk a little bit about, how you grew up? 

Lupita: Mhm.

Meklit: Like you grew up with your mom in LA right?

Lupita: Yeah. So my mom's an immigrant from Mexico, the state of Zacatecas, a very rural part of Zacatecas. Where she basically grew up on a ranch slash farm. They would sell cheese and sell cattle and they'd grow all their own food and that kind of thing. So she was the baby. My grandmother was 51 when my mom was born. If you could believe that, that's how organic things were around that place. 

I think you could only maybe study there at, in that little town, maybe eighth grade and then you'd have to go to a bigger city if you wanted to finish high school or go to college. And she wanted to. I think she saw what was happening around there with women. And it's just kind of like you get married, you have kids. And then you just become someone's wife. And then that's kind of like, that's it. You know? And I think she wanted more for herself.

And then, so her sister was living in the U.S. and wrote to her dad and was like. Hey, I know my sister wants to go study in this bigger city. If, you don't wanna let her go there, maybe she can come live with me in the U.S. and study here. And then that's what happened. 

Meklit: It's wonderful to hear you talk about your mom. What was your home like growing up?

Lupita: For this first seven years of growing up, we lived in a apartment in Huntington Park, you know simple. There was a Y.M.C.A across the street and I took swimming lessons and then, my mom involved me in like these, like little mini, like beauty pageants slash dance troops and we'd perform at the Downey Theater and it was very humble. She worked at the LA Unified School District. She's been an assistant for special education since I can remember. 

I think I learned a lot and inherited a lot of the traits and ideas that I think come from her of just being strong, independent, like I'm not gonna depend on any kind of man or situation. I remember going to Mexico like the same year I got married and my cousins over there asked my husband and me, so is your husband still gonna let you sing? 

I know, I know!

Well, my husband, he's third generation from his mom's side, like Chicano, Mexican American. And then his dad is like English, Swedish, white guy, rocker guy. So for him it was just so foreign, like, like he didn't even understand the question. And it only makes sense that I would marry someone that thinks that way. And we were just kind of both like, well, yeah, like who's gonna make all the money? You know?

Meklit: Like, lemme dish that back.

Lupita: Right.

Narration: This independence and boldness was part of Lupita’s model when she launched her own music career. After community college, she went on to study ethnomusicology at UCLA, and she self-produced her first album. 

Then Lupita got her big break as a finalist on La Voz, the Mexican version of the singing competition show, The Voice. 

Her star kept rising and In 2020, she was nominated for a Latin Grammy and performed at the ceremony. 

Lupita: It was just so beautiful and I was wearing such an incredible big white dress that just kind of took up, you know, so much space and it was just, it looked like a princess.

Narration: But after a while on record labels, these days Lupita’s back to being an independent artist.

Lupita: Lately we've been doing just self producing and we've kind of learned very much how to be self-sufficient. I like being an owner of my catalog.

Meklit: . It reminds me a little bit of what you were saying about your mom and like wanting to be in charge of her destiny and wanting to, you know, make the decisions that would enable her to, you know, live the life that she wanted to live, and some of that, it feels to me like I'm hearing some like echoes of that spirit in what you're saying now about being independent as an artist.

Lupita: Yeah. So it's always nice to be able to share about my mom's side, which I call like the not famous side. And the more I like, connect with my mom and just see who she is as a person. It's like, man, she has like a total spark and she really knows how to like, be quick and witty and she's such a performer, but it's like she will never get that credit because everyone will attribute whatever I am to like the famous person Infante. 

And a lot of people always like wanna say like, oh, you inherited your voice from your grandfather. I don't know why I did that in like an English accent.

Meklit: It was like, it was like, it wasn't just British, it was like Royal British.

Lupita: It was like Harry Potter vibes or something. I dunno.

Narration: Lupita sings in traditional ranchera and mariachi styles but she brings this independent, take-no-flack outlook to her songwriting approach as well. 

Lupita:  I think one of the songs that has really, like, in a way questioned like, the roles of what a man or a woman can, should, shouldn't do is the song called “Serenata”, Serenade.

Narration: Serenades are typically performed by men outside their lovers window. Very Romeo singing to Juliet. But with this song Lupita is putting the woman in the man’s shoes, the woman is the one serenading her lover. Juliet singing to Romeo. An idea that empowers women, in a genre historically dominated by men. 

In the music video for “Serenata”, Lupita delivers on the balcony scene, And she’s backed-up by an all-female mariachi ensemble. 

Lupita: And even in the video I wore pants where even now in the traditional, like Mexican attire, women are technically not supposed to wear the charro mariachi pants. You're not supposed to. And people. Get offended. You know, they're like, why are you wearing pants? Like, are you just trying to show off your curves? I'm like, why you like it? You know? I don't know. It's just like they attribute it to like, I'm trying to be like sexual and that's a bad thing.

it's almost kind of for me, fun to be like, covertly questioning certain things in my culture, but subtly enough to where it might kind of go over your head and you just like it because you like it, but then some people, it might resonate differently with, Oh, I like this because it's questioning everything. 

Narration: Still, there are aspects of Mariachi music that Lupita embraces with open arms.

Meklit: How did you decide to record some of your grandfather's classics on your live EP? In light of what you were saying, like at the top about like can't it just be my story? What was the wrestling process that you went through to get to that live EP?

Lupita: Well, I think the wrestling process, it really comes from the outer parts of like explaining things to people.

Meklit: Hmm. 

Lupita: The inner part is very easy and it's just music that I love. But then, yeah, it, it's when you share it with the world where it becomes like something else too. Where it's like, you know, explain the connection and your grandfather, and why did you choose this? And it's just, you know, you can always find some kind of marketing angle for it, which we do as well. I'm not gonna lie.

Meklit: Right. I mean, I kind of just did it, didn't I?

Narration: We’re wrestling together now with the complexities, but Lupita's clearly finding her own way to hold her family's legacies. 

Some of that happens publicly, through the music. Some of that happens more privately, at home with her husband. 

Lupita: We both have like moments of realization, like, holy crap. Even the cultural significance that Pedro Infante has for many Mexicans. And how, you know, during the film industry in that era, they were really trying to push Mexican nationalism and what it is to be a Mexican man. 

And I think he was kind of like the perfect guy  everybody wants to be romantic with, the guys wanna drink with, and the perfect son. And he even danced, and he was a pilot, like he was an acrobat on motorcycles. He was just so well versed in like being this incredible man. So, you know, in such a like patriarchy, he is gonna mean so many different things for so many people. 

I mean, I just read a TikTok comment yesterday like, where he’s all like,  “I am your grandmother. And I would've stayed with him no matter how many times he cheated on me”. And I was just like, damn girl. Like I wouldn't, but okay. You know? 

Meklit: Wow.

Lupita: So there's just so much like love and reverence from his, you know, hardcore fans. And, there's, it's just a lot. And it does take time to really just get kind of like the full in depth story. I think we, I feel like we did a good job today at really kind of telling that story of, like my little piece and what I do and then even how that comes from all of these past lives.

Narration: After college, I moved home to be close to my family. Those were the years where I realized how much of my own story I had gotten wrong. And here’s what I mean.  

Those days I’d see my grandmother several times week, and I’d often hear her singing. She had this low, raspy voice with a strong vibrato and she would embellish melodies in that perfectly slippery Ethiopian style. She had vocal mastery! She’d sing Amharic family songs to me, and sweetly stick my name inside the tune, to make the song about loving me. And while she would never call herself a singer, or a musician, there she was, in all that alto glory. 

I realized I had come from a musical family after all. Not in this public way, or labeled way, but in this understated, you have to be paying attention to see it, kind of way. 

But talking to Lupita, it was a release. Lupita made me want to just let go of those labels altogether. Musical family or not, the real work is forging your own path forward, with all the legacy, trauma, and gifts we have been given. 

This episode of Movement was produced by Emma Alabaster and myself, Meklit Hadero. Our senior editor is Megan Tan. Our sound designer and co-founder is Ian Coss. Our co-creator and podcast godmother is Julie Caine. Our broadcast partner is The World. We are distributed by PRX.