Trending Topics
Billions in Flight: Migratory Birds 
Autumn doesn’t officially begin until the equinox on September 22, but all across North America birds are already on the wing—billions of them. Migration times and destinations vary based on the species and variables like weather and food sources—some...
One-Room Schoolhouse 
Back to school. A hundred years ago in Topanga, it would have been on foot—and often barefoot—to the little, red, one-room schoolhouse by the creek in the bend of the dirt road.  Public education in California was still relatively...
Desert Voices 
“‘Just now our blood dances to other music.’ They fell a-twittering among themselves once more, and this time their intoxicating babble was of violet seas, tawny sands, and lizard-haunted walls.” The swallows in Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows...
Desert Daytrip 
A desert experience doesn’t always require one to crawl on hands and knees through the thornbush and cactus, regardless of what Edward Abbey says. Anyone seeking cactus, sandstone, and volcanic peaks need look no farther than our own Santa...
SamoFund Katelyn Tarver
Meet Me on the Mountain: Cecilia Noël
La Habana, Cuba Cada Alonso Photo by Alejandro Azcuy Dominguez
ArtBeat, Feature

Meet Me on the Mountain: Cecilia Noël 

La Habana, Cuba Cada Alonso Photo by Alejandro Azcuy Dominguez

Cecilia Noël is one of our canyon’s great storytellers. When performing on a stage her presence is vibrant and confident. When sharing a tale in the living room of her home, surrounded by her kin, she is pure warmth, punctuated with quick wit. When my husband and I first moved to Topanga, we were invited by Cecilia to her home for “a little music”. The only thing I knew about Cecilia was that she was a singer, and that she seemed like the kind of woman I would like to stay up late with, drinking wine, while she recants her travels around the world. 

When we arrived there were a little over a dozen musicians in the living room playing jazz, salsa and afro-cuban songs and ‘just one glass’, became three. The next thing I knew I was sitting on a spare cajon until the early hours of the morning. I never wanted the night to end. The same goes for the best of tales. 

Music marries the ritual of oral tradition with the beat of percussion, bass and dance. I later learned that it was none other than Stan Getz who “discovered” Cecilia and encouraged her to move to the United States. When she landed in New York City, she performed at near mythical venues like the Rainbow Room. In 1989, moved to Los Angeles, where she continues to share her music and her stories. 

Tell me a little bit about where you are from and the path that led you to become an artist?

I was born in the barrio of Miraflores, Lima, Perú, and shortly after, we moved into the house where the ghost of my mother’s second husband lived.

I started writing short stories at 5 years old, and was published at 7 in the magazine Cultura y Pueblo. I was around the theatre then, because one of my older sisters was a ballerina, and my mother, Menina Pereira, was a founder and costume designer for the company of the University’s Ballet de San Marcos. 

When I was 8, my father, Teodoro Noël, took my sister Desirée and I to the movies to watch Pennies from Heaven and I left convinced that I would become a performer.

So, right then, I submitted my resignation as a writer and auditioned for a singing spot in El Tio Johnny a Go-Go, a popular Children’s TV Show. Soon after, my sister joined me, and we were the closing act every Friday evening.

To me, you exude this sensuality and power that I am always in awe of. Where do you draw your strength from, not only as a woman but as an artist in an industry with mostly men in seats of power?

I was electrocuted a couple of times at home, because we never had the money to repair the old “Frigidaire”…so, I always had extra energy in me and an enormous passion for everything. I knew I was getting into a business mostly dominated by men, but, I ended up frightening them, more than anything, then leading my own band and writing my own music.

What was one of the most memorable shows you were a part of as an emerging artist?

One early memory is when I sang at the US Embassy in the north of Perú. They were less than prepared, instead of being handed a microphone, I was handed a Megaphone. Needless to say, I happily sang through it the whole show. 

One of my first experiences in LA was playing the Woodstock Festival 20 Years After, singing backup vocals for Iron Butterfly. They fired me after that show, because the photographer of People Magazine thought I was the star. 

Who were some of your mentors as an artist? Would you say mentors are integral to a musicians path?

Definitely. My mother was my main mentor. She prepared me for an “Artful Life”. Don Carlo Berscia, the Italian director of the 22 piece orchestra, I was part of as an adolescent in Lima, taught me how to conduct the band from a music score. Eric Jorgensen, my trombone player and fabulous musical arranger, is now also my music teacher, so have been my band members, The Wild Clams, each one a musical gem. My Cuban Papá Carlos Alfonso, an extraordinary musician, with whom I produced “Havana Rocks”, and together we won the Cuba Disco 2015 for Best International Album. My vocal coach, Irene García Guevara, that helped me recover my voice after my Lupus saga. The extraordinary Colin Hay, (the man I sleep with), is a joy and an everyday influence in my musical life, a big source of inspiration. 

What advice would you give to songwriters and musicians today creating during this pandemic?

Now is the time to focus and get yourself in shape, mentally and physically.  If you are not into technology, find someone safe to collaborate with. Phones are also a great way to make videos and get your music out there. Read good books. Educate yourself.

Instagram: @wildclam 

At the TV show El Tio Johnny a Go-Go. Photo courtesy of Cecilia Noël
Cecilia Noël and partner Colin Hay live in Topanga Canyon. Photo courtesy of Cecilia Noël

Related posts

1 Comment

  1. William Swanson

    Loved seeing Cecilia perform with Colin in Sacramento some years back. She was so energetic and a wonderful entertainer! So fun,…the band that accompanied them both that evening was definitely Latin based with such a cool vibe and sound. Oh my, and years years back in Folsom CA, Cecilia’s backup vocals with Colin were truly breathtaking. Looking forward to seeing them again!
    Signed, Two Feet in the Water
    Folsom, CA

Leave a Reply

Required fields are marked *