Watch Broadway Star Luba Mason Take Manhattan With Mariachi Band Flor de Toloache

BILLBOARD

June 23, 2016 

"There's a poster we have framed in our home, which you can see in the video," Luba Mason, Broadway veteran and omnivorous singer, tells Billboard, alluding to the Manhattan apartment she shares with her husband, singer/songwriter and actor Rubén Blades. "It says, 'Americanos Todos. Americans all. Let's fight for freedom!'', and it pictures two arms each holding a different hat; one holding a Mexican sombrero, the other holding an Uncle Sam-style top hat."

The fusion of Mexican and American cultures, for Mason, is about far more than just interior decorating though. The poster inspired her mariachi-centric arrangement of "Calm Before The Storm," a 1988 composition by Blades and Lou Reed that is from her latest project, Mixtura, which will be released tomorrow, June 24, via Kolbalt Label Services. To keep things authentic, Mason invited Grammy-nominated mariachi ensemble Flor de Toloache to assist on the recording and in the video, which is premiered exclusively on Billboard below. (more)