Liner Notes

“Ya Va Pasar” is the first song guitarist, composer, and producer Fabiola (Fabi) Reyna wrote after the passing of her friend, bandmate, and the co-founder of Reyna Tropical, Sumohair (Nectali Diaz).

In 2022, Reyna was faced with the difficult and deeply personal question of whether she should continue their musical project. “Being in the thickest part of my grief during the winter after he passed, a lot of insecurities and self doubt came up. For the first time I was questioning my own creative ability and whether or not Reyna Tropical could continue,” she says.

After becoming ill and forced to cancel a slew of shows, Reyna went home to take care of her health, eventually finding her way back to the music. “Everything felt so difficult at that time. It was my first time doing things alone—from writing a set list to practicing and performing—which was discouraging and scary. I never wanted to do this alone! At one point I sat down and forced myself to pick up my guitar. When I was going through the sounds in my looper I found one of Sumo’s beats and within a couple of hours found myself with a finished song. I cried both because I missed him and from the huge relief I felt realizing that I actually wasn’t doing this by myself.”

Through the process of writing new songs, Reyna discovered a way to maintain her relationship with Sumo. The powerful connection and spiritual transcendence that came from writing music and documenting moments was what originally brought Reyna and Sumo together. And now, even after his passing, it still does. “Over the last seven years we’ve been training each other to communicate without words, and instead through our intuition and the music. We’re deep in that conversation now and I feel proud of myself for finding that knowing.”

“Ya Va Pasar” is the time between something passing and something new coming. It’s Reyna bearing witness to her journey through grief—how the loss of someone we love breaks open the fears and traumas we must face in order to come back to ourselves. “When I was a little girl crying in my grandma’s arms, she would caress my face and say “ya va pasar” until it relaxed me into sleep,” she says. “I think everyone is experiencing grief in some way, but only a few of us know how to hold it, much less talk about it. This song offers relief in knowing that everything passes and everything renews.”

Through “Ya Va Pasar,” Reyna shares this first step of continuing in solidarity with the band’s founding vision: to be a voice and a platform for the joy and injustices living within the spectrum of Queer Love & Afro-Mexico.

Contributors

• Produced by Fabi Reyna
• Additional Production by Captain Planet
• Mixed by Nay Mapalo
• Mastered by Heba Kadry
• Vocals by Fabi Reyna
• Beats by Nectali Diaz