New music: Chhoti Maa: ‘Reinota (Tributo a Nelly Chavez)’
21 October, 2023Mexican by way of Oakland, Calif., rapper Chhoti Maa has a new track flexing her title of Queen while paying homage to a little known #powHERful Colombian vocalist named Nelly Chavez.
“Reinota,” produced by Juan Diego Nieto “Jvanni” and Daniel Riascos of Aurora Records, along with Mateo González “El Padri”, cleverly samples Nelly Chavez, a vocalist who sang well into the late 1950s as part of Pello Torres Orchestra. Born in Sincelejo, Sucre, Chavez’ voice was very well known come beautify pageant time as Pello Torres’ song “Vienen Las Reinas” played constantly when it came time to announce the queens competing in the National Reign of Beauty Queens.
Chavez was petite and had a beautiful voice. She would go on to birth a son, ‘Pocho’ Pérez, who today is well known for fronting the Orquesta Pacho Galán, well-known in Barranquilla, especially around Carnaval time.
Aurora Records is an independent label founded in 2021 in Medellín, Colombia, and is known for selecting and working with innovative artists, as it seeks to cover different niches and adapt to the needs of each musical project.
Chhoti Maa was born in Guanajuato, Mexico, and is based in Oakland, California. Petite with a husky voice and flow, her lyrics are rooted in community organizing, hip hop, neufolk, r&b, cumbia, migrant soul, and oral tradition. It reflects decolonial living, ancestral medicine, queerness, migrant empowerment, love, and radical sisterhood.
Listen to “Reinota” below.
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