Isaac and Nora were very young children—she was 7 years old and he was 12—when they burst onto social media with their performance of the song “Veinte años,” a bolero from the 1950s by the Cuban composer María Teresa Vera.
For anyone who saw the improvised home video—so far with more than 100 million views—it was impossible not to fall in love with the sweetness of Nora’s French voice, the choirs and trumpet of her brother Isaac, and the guitar notes of Nicolás el father of both children.
“That video changed our lives,” Nicolas said in a recent interview from the family home in Brittany, northwest France. “Because from then on we began to receive many proposals to record, to do concerts.”
The person responsible for all this, however, is the least known of the family: Isaac and Nora’s mother. She, who only spoke French, was in love with the Spanish songs of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, the golden era of boleros in Latin America.
Isaac and Nora, who were learning to play music with their father as a teacher, began performing songs at the request of their mother, Catherine. At that time they did it only phonetically because they didn’t know how to speak Spanish.
The sensation was such that the family continued recording videos and then began touring and collaborating with some important names in contemporary music in Spanish, such as Monseiur Periné, Leonel García, Rozalén and Daniel you are killing me.
It was then that the family saw the need to know Spanish. They never went to school; They learned it with the help of a popular internet application. Currently, all members speak Spanish with impressive fluency.
“We learned it to understand the songs we sing,” Nicolás said. “And also to communicate with the Spanish-speaking audience.”
Currently, Isaac et Nora, as the duo is called in French, is touring the United States, their first time visiting the country. They have already passed through New York and Chicago and this week they will be in Los Angeles – they will play tomorrow, Friday at the Fonda Theater – and on Sunday in San Francisco.
They will sing songs from their albums “Latin and Love Studies”, from 2021, a compilation of Latin American classics, and “Premieres Chansons”, from 2023, which are original songs that were written for them.
“We never thought that one day we would speak Spanish because we don’t have any Latin roots,” said Nicolás, who was born in South Korea and went to live in France when a couple adopted him. “But now it is the language we speak best after French; We feel comfortable and we love it.”
The boys, who are now 12 and 16 years old, hope to soon be able to record their songs in the genres that attract them. Nora likes folkpop — like what Rosalía does, she said — and Isaac likes rock.
But Nicolás doesn’t want them to go so fast. He prefers that his children learn more music and more theory before they throw themselves into the ring. For now they will continue singing classics in Spanish and in music classes, with Nicolás as their teacher.
His plans are to move to Mexico City next year and stay there for a year to develop new projects.
“I was very excited when we went to Mexico and people recognized them,” said Nicolás. “And we want to stay in that bubble of affection.”
In detail
That: Isaac and Nora
When: Friday, 9 pm
Where: Fonda Theater, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles
As: tickets $35; axs.com reports