WHIPPOORWILL ARTS FELLOWS
Fabiola Méndez
Native to Caguas, PR, Fabiola Mendez began playing the Puerto Rican cuatro at the age of 6. She was a student at the Hogar del Cuatro Puertorriqueño, the Humacao Musical Institute, the Antonio Paoli School of Music in Caguas, the Conservatorio de Artes del Caribe, and Berklee College of Music, where in 2018 she graduated as the first student to play the Puerto Rican cuatro as principal instrument.
Fabiola has participated in multiple recordings, including the Banco Popular Special Eco (2008), Fabiola Méndez and Herencia Criolla (2009), Ready for Departure (2014), Cuatro Sinfónico (2019), Al Otro Lado Del Charco (2019), and Afrorriqueña (2021), the last three being cataloged as part of the best 20 productions of 2019 and 2021 consecutively, according to the National Foundation for Popular Culture.
Fabiola has had the opportunity to perform on many different stages. She has worked with organizations such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Celebrity Series of Boston, Agora Cultural Architects, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Puerto Rican Arts Alliance in Chicago, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, among others. She has collaborated with artists such as: Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Totó La Momposina, Pedro Capó, Victoria Sanabria, Cucco Peña, Decimanía de Puerto Rico, Eddie Palmieri, the Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, Rayos Gamma, Danny Rivera, Chicago Philharmonic, among many others.
In recent years, she’s had the honor of receiving recognition such as the dedication of the Mapeyé Festival 2011, the Quincy Jones Award 2016, being an ambassador for the Puerto Rican Parade in New York 2018, a motion from the PR House of Representatives as the first cuatro player to graduate from Berklee in 2018, being selected as part of The ARTery 25 by Boston’s NPR news station in 2021, and the Brother Thomas Fellowship 2021 from the Boston Foundation.
Currently, Fabiola works as a cuatro player and singer-songwriter, presenting her original music projects inside and outside of Puerto Rico. In addition, she works as a composer for children's animated series, including the PBS Kids show Alma's Way, Work It Out Wombats, and Mecha Builders, produced by Sesame Street.
“Not only does she succeed in the risky task of making jazz from the sound of the cuatro, our national instrument, but she does it resonantly. Her music has the syncopation, the harmonic changes, the particular relationship between the instruments that the genre demands and above all, that spirit of nonconformity, that desire to creatively break the mold, which characterizes thebest jazz recordings.”
“The young cuatrista from Caguas, Puerto Rico, is taking the cuatro places it’s never been. She’s even the first student ever to specialize in the cuatro at Berklee College of Music. Mendez hopes to introduce people everywhere to the traditional island instrument that’s almost as old as Puerto Ricoitself.”
PROJECT: Record Puerto Rican folk tunes with a modern twist.
Flora Campesina is a musical project developed to highlight the beauty and diversity of the jíbaro music (folk music of Puerto Rico). This album features ten original compositions written by Fabiola, using folk genres such as: danza, pasillo, seis, bomba, guaracha and rumba, and exploring themes around freedom, pride, joy, struggle, peace, and honoring our ancestry. With featured folk musicians, arrangers, and sound designers from Puerto Rico, the music takes the listener on a journey around fusion of folk melodies with unconventional harmonies and rhythms.
Flora Campesina is forthcoming. You can purchase Fabiola’s music and stay in touch for this new release on Fabiola’s Bandcamp and Website.
Song List
1. Seis Chorreao
2. Canción de amor
3. Tributo a mis abuelos ft. Joe Torres
4. Maestra Madera
5. La Tierra es una Mulata
6. 17 de julio
7. Lamento en Celinés
8. La Vida es Lucha Toda ft. Orfeón San Juan Bautista
9. Cielo Campesino ft. Arturito Santiago, Modesto Nieves & José Eduardo Santana
10. Danza a mi barrio ft. Maribel Delgado & Carlos Martínez