Flor Amargo’s life changed the day someone put five pesos in her hand, something like 25 pennies on the dollar.
The unexpected act happened in a busy street in Mexico City, where Flor settled down to sing.
“One day I was walking down the street and I saw some guys playing music in Reform, and when I saw them I thought, ‘this is what I have to do,’ “Flor said in an interview from her home in Puerto Vallarta, where she recently moved. “I bought my equipment and left, and the first experience was so rewarding that I will never forget it.”
A lady who was passing gave her five pesos, and Flor couldn’t believe it because “I didn’t do it for money, but because I wanted to share what I loved, which was music.”
That sensation was similar to what Flor, whose real name is Emma Mayte Carballo, felt when she meditated, and that is why she decided to label her music with the name of cathartic pop, which is a mixture of street music, urban, rock, cumbia, tango, classical and whatever comes to mind.
And the thing is that Flor is not improvised. From a very young age she began to play instruments; The first was the guitar his mom gave him when he was in high school. It was so easy for her that she continued with other instruments, until her passion and talent led her to the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, where she studied piano.
There she fell in love with the great authors, such as Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Bach. However, dedicating themselves to music was not an option in a house where only doctors, engineers, lawyers had credit. So when Flor dropped out of school and told her family that she was going to dedicate herself to art, they threw her out; there was no room for her.
“I didn’t have a penny, I was borrowing everything,” said the artist, who this Friday will open the season of free concerts at the Levitt Pavilion in The Angels. “Everyone told me ‘stop that dream’; They told me that I was a failure, that I was never going to get anywhere; nobody believed in me, nobody; They ran me out of the house, and suddenly that lady gives me a coin; that’s where my dream began to come true. ”
De la calle became part of the singing reality show La Voz on two occasions in Mexico. There his fame spread throughout the country, and his social networks overflowed. Now he is about to release “La reina del barrio”, a double album -the fifth- on which he has been working for three years.
“It took me a while because I kind of always wanted to find my gender,” said Flor, from 33 years. “At the beginning I started doing rock, but as it lacked the Latin rhythm […] It has a fusion between cumbia, a little rock, ska and suddenly I put tango”.
The singer’s life is very different now. He has already stepped on important forums, such as the Vive Latino de 2020, in the Zócalo of Mexico City .
“I feel very happy that Flor Amargo has reached where it has arrived,” she said. “It has been a very beautiful but very painful path […] I have had to live many things but they have all left me a lesson, which is not to lose hope; If you lose it, you’ve already lost everything. Faith can take you wherever you want. ”
In detail
What: Bitter Flower
When: Friday,
Where: Levitt Pavilion, 2230 W. 6th St., Los Angeles
How to: for free; reservation is recommended at levittlosangeles.org
