It’s called a lifelong passion. Laura Fernandez
Our fifth post in association with JAZZFM.91 is a chat with program host Laura Fernandez. We spoke about just how much music, radio and DJs have influenced and filled her life. Communication and community are at the heart of her show - Café Latino. Come and share the love!
Who are you?
Well, my name is Laura Fernandez. I’m many things. I’m an artist, I’m a singer/songwriter. I’m a caregiver for my mom, who has Alzeimers. I work in real estate – thank god (because it’s gotten me through this year, since all gigs have been cancelled!). I’m a mother. I’m a radio broadcaster and sharer of incredible music all over the world. That might be one of the most important jobs that I have.
How did you end up in this radio business?
From the outside, it may look like it landed in my lap, but looking back, I realize that radio has always been a focus in my life. From the time when I was little and moved to Canada, from Spain, not speaking the language at all. Thrown into the school system, at seven years old and not being able to communicate by speaking my language – the music kept me company.
I’ve always been very focused on music from the time I was little. That was instilled in me by my parents. My dad loved classical music, opera, jazz – everything. It was always around. My earliest memories – my dad would sit me on his lap, play me a piece of music and I would tell him what it was. Apparently, I was two or three. It was like a party game – I knew everything!
I focused on music all my life. I focused on the radio. I had phone relationships with DJs. I would call into the radio all the time. The radio was my lifeline, because I didn’t have friends at first. It took time to learn the language and music was the positive energy in my life that connected me.
A little later on, I started writing poetry at age eight and I started writing songs at age twelve (when my parents got me a piano. I became a songwriter then. Took piano lessons, became a performer.
It was through being a performer that I was offered a job at JAZZFM.91 (It was suggested by the previous host Amanda Martinez, that she write in and let the managers know about me as they were looking for a host for Café Latino). I walked in, had an interview and the next thing I knew, I was doing a radio show!
I had never done a radio show before. I put together a playlist, I was trained. I was told to be myself and share what I loved and what I knew. When I went in for the interview, I confessed to them what I knew about music and that it had been a huge part of my life. I had never done a radio show and that I was going to approach it from the point of view of discovery. I knew a lot about Spanish music, but I didn’t know the whole world of Latin jazz (which, it turns out, is very extensive!)
So, over the years, I’ve kind of become the ‘expert’ in Latin jazz and it’s been an unbelievable journey for me. It has given me so much and, every week, I give it back.
That’s how I think of it. I share the beautiful music, the energy, the culture, the excitement that I have about the music that I play, with my audience.
I don’t know how I got here. It seems like it landed in my lap, but I almost feel that, in some weird way, I might have manifested it. I do believe in that.
How important is it being Spanish, doing this ‘niche’ program? What would have happened if you’d been asked to do the blues night?
It’s interesting. When I was growing up, I was much more focused on popular music. When I was writing my songs, I didn’t start writing in my native language until much later. So, I wasn’t necessarily focused on Latin music.
I look back at my life and I think it was meant to be. My father, back in Calgary, started a club called Culthispan which included all the Spanish and Latin cultures of the world. He made a kind of community and he was the head of it. I remember that he designed this beautiful logo and display-eagles representing all the Latin countries and the Latin influenced countries of the world.
I look back and, being Spanish and knowing that the Spanish language is the root of Spanish culture around the world (knowing that every country has its own beautiful identity) (and also that Spanish did not come to them in the best way… the Conquistadors were not nice people), I see these incredible cultures that have the seed in the Spanish culture.
Looking back, I think, there couldn’t be a better person that unites all the Latin countries because I’m from the mother country. I’m Spanish. I’m playing all the music that was born of our culture, mixed with the indigenous, mixed with the African cultures, mixed with all the beautiful cultures around the world. And there we have – Latin jazz!
Yeah, I could have done a show on pop music – maybe. I don’t think it would have been as deep. I am very cognizant of my roots and I’m very connected to my roots. My family is the only family that moved away from Spain. Everybody is still there – my cousins, my aunts, my uncles, my grandparents (who passed away). We were the only ones who moved away to North America.
I think – what a beautiful way to share this culture, which belongs to everyone – to the world. Now, they listen to my show in Spain and they’re so proud!
Somehow, this opportunity (I can’t even call it a job, because it doesn’t feel like one) – this blessing – landed in my life. I said ‘yes’ to it, even though, honestly, I did not know what I was doing in the beginning. I had faith that there was a reason why I was here. I share the joy and pride and emotion about it every week. I think people like that!
Along with the clear sense of honour, is there a sense of responsibility?
Yes. There is responsibility in making sure that people know that music is pure, that it is non-judgmental and is for everybody. That it deserves to be listened to in the best possible way. I don’t cut off my songs. Somebody once said, in an interview, “You can fade my song out if you want to…” No. Art deserves to be heard in its complete form.
Yes, there’s a sense of honour. There’s a sense of responsibility to share in the highest quality manner that I can. To educate people about it so that they can connect to it – not just emotionally, but a little bit intellectually. To tell the story of the artist, to tell the story of the music.
You don’t want to tell an enormous amount of technical stuff. You’re giving them enough of a story so that they have the path with which to discover themselves. Many times, when I play this music, people write to me asking to know about this person, their albums. I’ll write back and tell them more. And then, they search that music out themselves.
I’m a conduit. I looked up the definition – you’re a path of spiritual energy. Music is a spiritual energy. Whether you like it or not, it is the language of the heart, the language of the soul. It’s pure in its form, however it’s created. My job is not to get in the way of it. My job is to transmit it.
You said that when you arrived in Canada, radio was your first friend.
Absolutely. At seven or eight, I did not have money for records. I came from a traditional Spanish household. We didn’t have a lot of money. There were five kids. My parents were immigrants and just getting started in a new country.
My dad was always fun and always thinking of things to do. He would bring home 45s – when they were emptying out the jukeboxes, he would go and pick up records. That’s where I first heard Miriam Makeba, the Beatles. I was obsessed with music. I would read all of the liner notes for all the records.
My dad bought me a transistor radio (I don’t know if my sisters’ had one!). I would go to sleep with it on. I heard all kinds of music. I still remember sitting in the car and listening to ‘Hey Jude”. Some of my strongest memories are connected to listening to music on the radio.
I loved the DJs. I used to call in. In Calgary, there was this thing called “The School’s Out Picnic” – everyone would gather in the park. I remember going and meeting the DJs. Here’s a magical, full-circle story: in my early days at JAZZFM.91, a man contacted me on Linkedin and said that he was a radio guy and that he would like to meet me for a coffee at Tim Horton’s. He loved my show and would I meet him?
Now, I meet just about everybody, because I love people. I met him for coffee and he told me that he’d been listening to my show and he just wanted to give me a few tips. I learn from everyone! “I feel that, before every break, you don’t mention who you are enough. You should mention who you are, the station and your radio show at every break. Would you do that?”
Nowadays, you’d call it branding. I understood how important it is. There are three identities here: myself, there is Café Latino, which is a community and there’s JAZZFM.91, which is a broader community.
Here is the full-circle moment that confirmed that I’m where I should be. He had a stroke and I went to visit him, brought him a little gift. He told me “I have to tell you something and it’s very important. I received and email from a DJ friend of mine in Alberta, in Edmonton. He said, ‘I love radio in Toronto. There’s this particular DJ that I listen to who is my favourite DJ. Her name is Laura Fernandez.’”
He, apparently, is the DJ that I used to listen to when I was growing up, on CKXL Radio, in Calgary, that did the School’s Out Picnic! I was floored. I am this guy’s favourite DJ. He was my favourite DJ. I got so emotional. These guys are elderly, kind of forgotten and here I am, kind of carrying the torch!
I approach my show very much the way it was when I was growing up. I love to communicate with the audience, I write them back. I have personal relationships, even though I have never met most of them. It is incredible to me that people will recognize my voice on the phone, recognize my name.
I do have a responsibility – to be the best person I can be. There are other things attached to my name now. JAZZFM.91 is attached to my name and to my voice. Café Latino is attached to my name and my voice. It’s not just about me anymore.
With this ability to pull a very large world together has there been an added responsibility? Especially with this pandemic and what radio has meant to people.
I know a lot of people have been very lonely. I, myself, have not had an easy time. I don’t show it, but if I do feel down, I will say it on the radio. I’m honest and authentic. I feel more connected than ever, to the listening audience. I feel more of a responsibility than ever, to try to be the voice of hope, not the voice of doom.
I think a lot more about the music I play and I try to connect to what’s going on, somehow. I will mention that – hey, we’re going into another lockdown, so kick off your shoes and dance!
The joy of human contact has been ripped out of our lives and we’ve got to put it back, somehow. I’m trying to do it through music. I’m so grateful that people can turn on the radio and have a little company. That they have a friend. That I can be the voice that gives them a little bit of comfort.
How have you survived the pandemic?
In the beginning, it was kind of a novelty not to have to run around. I felt almost as if I was on holiday. I didn’t mind. Having been an illustrator and used to working at home, I just felt like I was back to my old life.
But, I had the added challenge of being a caregiver to my mom. Her day programs were cancelled and all of sudden, I am the one taking care of my mom. There was some respite, which I am grateful for, but that was hard.
However, it became a creative time for me. I wrote songs, I released an album last year but, in this second year, I wasn't able to play my music or do a CD release. There have been challenges, but I have used this time well. I’ve still been working. And my radio show has been out every week!
Sometimes it’s been a bit draining. As ‘up’ a person as I am, I’m still human and I still get down. We all do.
Who are you?
I am a citizen of the world, who is in love with music. I have been, from the time I was born and will be until the day I die. I love to create it. I love other people’s music, too. It’s really an expression of people’s souls, isn’t it? I am one of those souls.
