One of the country's most recognized Latin musical groups, La Santa Cecilia have built their career on songs inspired by Latino life in the U.S. with a sound like no one else's. 

They have tackled the harsh realities of being undocumented in "ICE (El Hielo)," have made people dance with the cumbia inspired "La Negra" and have reimagined iconic love songs like Julio Jaramillo's "Nuestro Juramento" through creativity and a passion of taking on any genre they wish since they formed in the late 2000s. But it is years later, during the making of, La Santa Cecilia, the follow-up to Amar Y Vivir out now, that the quartet, whose Latin anthems won them a GRAMMY in 2014, found themselves face-to-face with one of their toughest moments as a group yet: the loss of three of their fathers.

"That was a huge shock. That really shook us in our personal [lives] and as a band," lead singer La Marisoul told the Recording Academy. For her, sharing the realities of life, even the tough ones, has become a point of connection to others. "We can get in a room or a venue or at a theater and play music and cry and dance and share. That is always a continuous drive for me," she said.

But this album is about love, too. "Although life takes so much away from us, it also gives us so much," Oso, the band's percussionist, adds. "One of the biggest things it gives us is love, is romance, is all that, all those beautiful feelings that we have that inspires us to keep going."

Musically, the band known for their singular mix of music, including cumbia, Latin rock, soul, R&B, ska and several other genres, continue to push their sound into new places. "[We] took it to another level where it just matured in this really beautiful way," Oso said.

The Recording Academy chatted with Oso and La Marisoul about coping with their loss during the making of their album, the limitations of genre, the state of Latin music and more.

What is the inspiration behind this LP?

Marisoul: Well, I think the inspiration is, as it's been for the previous albums, is life. Life, love, lust. Keeping faith in our dreams and in our band. All of our albums are influenced by what we go through and this past year we've gone through a lot of changes. Three of us lost our fathers in 12 months, so that was a huge shock. That really shook us in our personal [lives] and as a band too because we're friends, we're like a family. If someone's down, we feel for one another.

Love is a big thing, too, in this album. I think it's very romantic. We have a song called "Always Together," and it's about a couple or any relationship [that is] trying to keep the fire going, keep having trust in one another [while] going through those ups and downs and finding those moments to celebrate our friendships, our relationships and to just have a good time, because sometimes you just need a dance and a drink.

Does music help you cope with your life changes?

Oso: It totally helps you cope with it. For us, as musicians, music is... a great outlet. It's a connection to everything in itself. It's an art form of communication where you try to transmit everything that you're thinking and feeling and stuff. [It's a way] for us to be able to express sentiments and feelings that we couldn't do so in regular conversation. We put it into music, and we put it into songs. It's weird because a lot of songs on the album were kind of like a foreshadowing of what was to come.

We had no idea that all that loss was going to happen all at once. So, definitely, I think it's very therapeutic for us to be able to get up on stage and sing songs and share the energy. It gives us so much hope. It gives us things to look forward to. It connects what we're doing to so many other people. I think that's what's so beautiful about it. We get to share what we feel with other people and connect, and they, in turn, share what they feel with us ... the album is filled with a lot of that energy.

I want to talk more about this aspect of romance because right now, the country is going through a lot in terms of politics and a lot of stuff going on with the environment. When you're creating something around a topic so humanistic as love, does it mean more to you to focus on that now?

Oso: I don't think so. We never set out to be like this is what kind of band [we are,] this is the kind of album we're going to make. I think our main objective is just to be honest with what we're living. Like Marisoul said, [we] like to be honest with our life. The greatest sound of inspiration that we have is life and being able to figure out how we can complement it with music, with lyrics, with melodies, with all this stuff because although life takes so much away from us, it also gives us so much. One of the biggest things it gives us is love, is romance, is all that, all those beautiful feelings that we have that inspires us to keep going.

When things get so hard, like the way life is right now, and it can very difficult for a lot of us, feeling depressed. I know I feel like that. I feel scared, I feel depressed about the future of the world we're living in, but the music, the romance, and all those things give us a reason to be in existence and to keep trying.

Marisoul: I think it's beyond romance. I think that love is always at the core of what anybody does, I hope. Anything positive. Whether it's pursuing a career or going to work every day to take care of your family or going to school. Just the everything that we're... [whether] it's politics or anything, I think it always comes down - or should always come down - to love. I [also] agree with this feeling weary and sad about all the things that we see, happening all over the world.

And it feels like dark, dark times, you know but, like, no se quisimos escribir una cancion que fuera inspiradora. That would inspire people and inspire us because ... the work that we do isn't all just fun and games and beautiful like that. Everything around you sometimes bums you out. And after losing, having so much loss, sometimes it's hard to keep going ... So we wrote this song called "Dream" to inspire ourselves and to inspire and to just keep echandole ganas a nuestros propositos and you know and fighting for change and no dejar de vencer because I know it now, it's fucked up times and it's as real as dreaming maybe sometimes or having hope, we should never lose hope.

What keeps you all going?

Marisoul: The love of my family and the love of my child. I have a kid. I have a partner, I have a band, I'm super emotional right now but like my family, my friends and music. That keeps me going, that inspires me every day. We get a chance to live our dream, be musicians, play music and spend our day with our family and with our friends and to be able to go out and connect with people, with all the friends we've made along the way with La Santa Cecilia and we can get in a room or a venue or at a theater and play music and cry and dance and share like that is always a continuous drive for me.

Oso: I still have the feeling that I had when I was 16 and I started playing music to [make the best] f***ing music I could possibly ever make. That keeps me going every day, still. I just turned 40 and I still feel like that. I feel like "Aw man I want to give music what music gave to me." I don't ever feel like I'm done giving to music.

Did you all have to pause on the album making when your losses happened?

Oso: We didn't pause. My father passed away and then I had to miss half of the tour and then Alex's dad passed away, he missed half of the tour while we were working on the music. Then Marisoul's father passed away a few months afterwards. I remember our producer Sebastian [Krys] was like 'Hey man, we should stop," because we were already in the studio doing pre-production when Marisoul's father passed away but we took a few days off and then we kept working because that's what they would have wanted us to do because music was so important to them and I knew that they were so proud of us for being able to play music and do this and to see the music was just as important to us as it was to them. So I think that what they would have wanted us to do was to finish and not give up, and not use that as a crutch to be like "Oh well I can't keep going because this is just too hard."

As hard as it is and was I think they would have wanted us to keep [working on] the music. 

How did these moments strengthen you as a band?

Oso: We came together even more because it wasn't just us making music, it wasn't just us hanging out, it wasn't just us going to typical band stuff we had to go do some of the realest shit we've ever gone through in our lives. All four of us were just there for each other at every moment, checking up on each other, making sure we were okay, asking each other if we needed anything. As cliché as it sounds it feels like we became like adults.

We were just dealing with this in such an adult way and were just there for each other.

Going back onto the album, this one we hear a wider range of sounds. Tell me about the new sounds and why you decided to bring them onto the project?

Oso: We've always been about incorporating styles, different sounds and making genres and all this stuff. On this record especially, we took it to another level where it just matured in this really beautiful way where we're able to do a song like "Nobody Knows You When You're Down," which is this really gut-wrenching Betty Smith, blues, jazz song and then also do something like "Winning" where it's very like prog-rock, punk with bachata and all this stuff. For us it feels like the most natural thing, it never feels like we're forcing anything. It just feels like if this goes right, this fits good and...

Marisoul: We're not looking for like "It's because I want a new sound and stuff." It's more like I just want to experiment and what sounds good and we get to do that with Sebastian with the band and when we're working with the production of the album, we can't help but always want to mix things up and experiment. With the sounds and with our music and different styles ... I'm really proud of this album from "Winning" and "Dream" to "Always And Forever" and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down" and now it's like we're still touching on our influences, on the roots and stuff but we're also still venturing within La Santa Cecilia to find out who La Santa Cecilia is and all the kind of things that we do as a band, musically.

Speaking of the internet and all this technology I want to talk about "Winning" and that really has a strong message and it's done in such a fun way. What did you want to get across with that song specifically?

Marisoul: I think we just wanted to share our observation, share our personal addiction to social media because I think everybody's consumed by it and if you're not, lucky you. I mean at least I know that I get distracted by it but I love it, too. I love sharing, but then I don't. It's this really weird love/hate relationship that I feel I have with social media. It's such an important tool for me as an artist because it's the way that I can connect with an audience and that I can share with them what's going on with the band or with the things that I'm doing, but at the same time I feel like it feels sometimes like a chore, you know like, f*** I've got to post because then they won't know that we played on Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl, and that was amazing. 

I'm wondering like we, the industry is very much like into genres and this is R&B and this is pop and things are mixing a lot more, but do you ever feel limited by genres?

Oso: Yeah, all the time. Yeah because it's not like... the genres aren't us, you know what I mean? We're not like, "We have to be R&B or we have to be punk or we have to be bolero" or anything like that. It's just for us just music is music and it's how we feel and it's how we see things, but everybody else needs to identify it to be a certain thing, but for us it's just being able to play a song and a melody and a rhythm and stuff like that and that's what turns us on. It's how it makes us feel, not what it's called.

Marisoul: To me it doesn't matter, to me it's not a hang up or it's not a like "Oh, it's cause people don't know who we are." I feel like we have these different platforms now, you can listen... you can watch videos, all kinds of stuff on YouTube or you can listen to and make your own playlists on Spotify or Apple, it's like you can listen to anything and nowadays I feel like whereever I go or whoever I hang with they're phones are out [they] have just a mix of music so to me it doesn't matter. If I'm working for Spotify and I'm the one that has to categorize that s*** like f**** that, you know?

How was it working with Sebastian?

Marisoul: Sebastian is great. I mean, we've been working with Sebastian for years now like on all of our albums from Noche Y Citas to now. The only thing we did without him was maybe that one like demo that we did ourselves. Sebastian is very much a part of La Santa Cecilia and our family and our circle of friends so it feels like home and I'm glad that we got the chance to go down this musical adventure road together, to play music and to continue to find new things for us. It feels great to just be in the studio with that guy. And argue and then compromise and create and try new things.

In terms of musical landscape there's so much going on with music being made by Latinos in English and in Spanish. From the J Balvin's to Rosalia's and then down to the Omar Apollos, do you feel excited to be able to continue to add your voice and your touch into a greater landscape?

Oso: I think it's cool, man. People are like putting it down to the culture and all this stuff and it's great to see all these young Latino artists doing stuff. I don't know to what extent I feel like we're a part of that or not. I honestly can't say. I just know that it feels, like I said earlier, it feels good to be able to make music that someone can identify with.

Oso: There's J Balvin, there's Rosalia, all this like more modern, futuristic kind of culture of Latin music that's happening but there's also people that are so different from that, that are Latino and there's people that are so unique and different in every culture of the world so it's cool to see that there are so many different avenues of expression and for us to be able to be one of them is great. I think people want to homogenize the culture so much and it'll only be like urbano or this and that but the spectrum is huge for our culture. It's so big, that's why you get festivals where it's like you get Bronco, Los Tigres Del Norte, J Balvin, Carlos Vives, La Santa Cecilia, Cuco, all these people together in one festival because there's not one way to represent being Latino so it's cool to have so many. And I just would like all of it to get attention, not just one side of it.

"Oh no, I’m going to start crying again," says La Santa Cecilia singer La Marisoul during a touching scene in Alma Bohemia, the documentary directed by Carlos Pérez honoring the Los Angeles band’s 15 year anniversary. 

As it turns out, there are many reasons to be emotional about this film — and the very existence of La Santa Cecilia in the contemporary Latin music landscape. Fittingly, Alma Bohemia was received enthusiastically by the capacity audience during an exclusive screening on April 3 at the GRAMMY Museum’s Clive Davis Theater in Los Angeles. 

Formed by La Marisoul (real name is Marisol Hernández), bassist Alex Bendaña, accordionist and requinto player José "Pepe" Carlos and percussionist Miguel "Oso" Ramírez, La Santa Cecilia was for years one of the best kept secrets in the Los Angeles music scene.  As close friends and musicians, they won over audiences with an organic, down-to-earth sound and a lovely songbook that draws from traditional formats such as bolero, ranchera and nueva canción.

Alma Bohemia follows the making of La Santa’s 2023 album, Cuatro Copas Bohemia en la Finca Altozano. A celebration of the band’s longevity, the session also functions as a subtle, yet powerful musical experiment. It was recorded at the Finca Altozano in Baja California, where the band members stayed as guests of celebrated chef Javier Plascencia — a longtime fan.

Argentine producer Sebastián Krys — the band’s longtime collaborator — calls this his Alan Lomax experiment. The album was recorded live on tape with a variety of strategically placed microphones capturing hints of ambient sonics — a sweet afternoon breeze, the clinking of glasses, the musicians’ banter, the soft sounds that accompany stillness. 

From the very beginning, the making of Cuatro Copas mirrors the band’s bohemian cosmovision: A communal approach where the quartet — together with carefully selected guest stars — get together to share the magic of creation, the unity of like-minded souls, homemade food, and more than a couple of drinks. In effect, the bottles of mezcal and never ending rounds of toasting quickly become a running joke throughout the documentary.

La Marisoul’s fragile lament is enveloped in spiraling lines of mournful electric guitars with soulful understatement on the track "Almohada." Guest artists liven things up, with Oaxacan sister duo Dueto Dos Rosas adding urgency to "Pescadores de Ensenada," while son jarocho master Patricio Hidalgo ventures into a lilting (yet hopeful) "Yo Vengo A Ofrecer Mi Corazón," the ‘90s Argentine rock anthem by Fito Páez.

Visibly delighted to be part of the bohemia, 60-year-old ranchera diva Aida Cuevas steals the show with her rousing rendition of "Cuatro Copas," the José Alfredo Jiménez classic. "Viva México!" she exclaims as the entire group sits around a bonfire at night, forging the past and future of Mexican American music into one.

Read more: La Santa Cecilia Perform "Someday, Someday New"

Following the screening, the band sat down for a Q&A session hosted by journalist Betto Arcos. Sitting on the first row, a visibly moved young woman from El Salvador thanked the band for helping her to cope with the complex web of feelings entailed in migrating from Latin America. La Santa’s songs, she said, reminded her of the loving abuelita who stayed behind.

"We love the old boleros and rancheras," said La Marisoul. "We became musicians by playing many of those songs in small clubs and quinceañeras. It’s a repertoire that we love, and I don’t think that will ever change."

Carlos touched on his experience being a member of Santa Cecilia for about seven years before he was able to secure legal status in the U.S. When the band started to get concert bookings in Texas, they would take long detours on their drives to avoid the possibility of being stopped by the authorities. Carlos thanked his wife Ana for the emotional support she provided during those difficult years.

Ramírez took the opportunity to acknowledge producer Krys for being an early champion of the band. "He had a vision, and he made us better," he said, flashing forward to a recent edition of the Vive Latino festival. "There were about 12,000 people to see us," he said. "And they were singing along to our tunes."

"The band is just an excuse to hang out with your friends," added La Marisoul just before La Santa performed two live songs. Her voice sounded luminous and defiant in the theater’s intimate space, always the protagonist in the group’s delicately layered arrangements.

"The first time I got to see the finished documentary, I felt proud of all the work we’ve done together," said producer Krys from his Los Angeles studio the day after the screening. "On the other hand, there’s a lot of work ahead of us. I believe La Santa Cecilia deserves wider exposure. They should be up there among the greatest artists in Latin music."

Martha Reeves Takes L.A.: The "Queen Of Motown" Shares Memories Of Smokey Robinson, Her Solo Career & Finally Receiving A Hollywood Star

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

10 Essential Facts To Know About GRAMMY-Winning Rapper J. Cole

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect additional performers and presenters.

Officially kicking off the 2023 GRAMMYs, the 65th GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony will return to the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles with a star-studded celebration of performers, presenters and awards. Taking place Sunday, Feb. 5, at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT, just hours before Music's Biggest Night, the 2023 GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony will stream live on live.GRAMMY.com and on the Recording Academy's YouTube channel.

The beloved annual event, in which the majority of this year's 91 GRAMMY Awards categories will be awarded, will be hosted by current GRAMMY nominee Randy Rainbow and will feature an opening number performance by Blind Boys of Alabama, La Marisoul from La Santa Cecilia, and additional surprise performers. Other artists scheduled to perform include current nominees Arooj Aftab, Madison Cunningham, Samara Joy, Anoushka Shankar, Carlos Vives, Shoshana Bean, Maranda Curtis, Buddy Guy and Bob Mintzer.

Presenting the first GRAMMY Awards of the day include current nominees Judy Collins,  Babyface, DOMi & JD BECK, Myles Frost, Arturo O'Farrill, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Amanda Gorman, and five-time GRAMMY winner and former Recording Academy Board of Trustees Chair Jimmy Jam. Recording Academy Chair of the Board of Trustees Tammy Hurt will provide opening remarks. Additional talent and co-host to be announced in the coming days.

This year, City National Bank has signed on as the first-ever presenting sponsor of the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony.

Read More: 2023 GRAMMYs Performers Announced: Bad Bunny, Lizzo, Sam Smith, Steve Lacy, Mary J. Blige & More Confirmed

All Premiere Ceremony performers and hosts are current nominees at the 2023 GRAMMYs, as are most presenters. Aftab is nominated for Best Global Music Performance ("Udhero Na" with Anoushka Shankar); Babyface is nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance ("Keeps On Fallin'" with Ella Mai); Blind Boys of Alabama are nominated for Best Americana Performance ("The Message" with Black Violin); Cunningham is nominated for Best American Roots Performance ("Life According To Raechel") and Best Folk Album (Revealer); DOMi & JD BECK are up for Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Instrumental Album (NOT TiGHT); Frost is nominated for Best Musical Theater Album (MJ The Musical); Joy is nominated for Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album (Linger Awhile); La Marisoul is up for Best Tropical Latin Album (Quiero Verte Feliz with La Santa Cecilia); O'Farrill is nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album (Fandango At The Wall In New York with The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Featuring The Conga Patria Son Jarocho Collective); Rainbow is up for Best Comedy Album (A Little Brains, A Little Talent); Shankar is up for Best Global Music Performance ("Udhero Na" with Arooj Aftab) and Best Global Music Album (Between Us… (Live) with Metropole Orkest & Jules  Buckley Featuring Manu Delago); Vives is nominated for Best Tropical Latin Album (Cumbiana II); Warner is nominated for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album (Hiding In Plain View); Bean is up for Best Musical Theater Album ("Mr. Saturday Night"); Curtis is nominated for Best Gospel Album (Die To Live); Guy is nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album (The Blues Don’t Lie); and Mintzer is up for Best Instrumental Jazz Album (Parallel Motion).

Read More: Where, What Channel & How To Watch The Full 2023 GRAMMYs

"We are so excited to kick off GRAMMY Sunday with the Premiere Ceremony ahead of Music's Biggest Night," Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. said. "Not only do we have an incredible lineup of presenters and performers, but this ceremony will also reveal the winners in the vast majority of our categories, celebrating this amazing year in music across many of our genre communities."

Following the Premiere Ceremony, the 2023 GRAMMYs will be broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ at 8-11:30 p.m. ET / 5-8:30 p.m. PT.

On GRAMMY Sunday, fans can access exclusive, behind-the-scenes GRAMMYs content, including performances, acceptance speeches, interviews from the GRAMMY Live red-carpet special, and more via the Recording Academy's digital experience on live.GRAMMY.com.

The Official 2023 GRAMMYs Playlist Is Here: Listen To 115 Songs By Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar & More

It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown. The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.

Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.

Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton, who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic, psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic. Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis, Silk Sonic, and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, and Thundercat, respectively.

In the 1980s, electro-funk was born when artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, and Egyptian Lover began making futuristic beats with the Roland TR-808 drum machine — often with robotic vocals distorted through a talk box. A key distinguishing factor of electro-funk is a de-emphasis on vocals, with more phrases than choruses and verses. The sound influenced contemporaneous hip-hop, funk and electronica, along with acts around the globe, while current acts like Chromeo, DJ Stingray, and even Egyptian Lover himself keep electro-funk alive and well.

Today, funk lives in many places, with its heavy bass and syncopated grooves finding way into many nooks and crannies of music. There's nu-disco and boogie funk, nodding back to disco bands with soaring vocals and dance floor-designed instrumentation. G-funk continues to influence Los Angeles hip-hop, with innovative artists like Dam-Funk and Channel Tres bringing the funk and G-funk, into electro territory. Funk and disco-centered '70s revival is definitely having a moment, with acts like Ghost Funk Orchestra and Parcels, while its sparkly sprinklings can be heard in pop from Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, and, in full "Soul Train" character, Silk Sonic. There are also acts making dreamy, atmospheric music with a solid dose of funk, such as Khruangbin’s global sonic collage.

There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music, Amazon Music and Pandora.

Say She She

Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.

While they’ve been active in the New York scene for a few years, they’ve gained wider acclaim for the irresistible music they began releasing this year, including their debut album, Prism. Their 2022 debut single "Forget Me Not" is an ode to ground-breaking New York art collective Guerilla Girls, and "Norma" is their protest anthem in response to the news that Roe vs. Wade could be (and was) overturned. The band name is a nod to funk legend Nile Rodgers, from the "Le freak, c'est chi" exclamation in Chic's legendary tune "Le Freak."

Moniquea

Moniquea's unique voice oozes confidence, yet invites you in to dance with her to the super funky boogie rhythms. The Pasadena, California artist was raised on funk music; her mom was in a cover band that would play classics like Aretha Franklin’s "Get It Right" and Gladys Knight’s "Love Overboard." Moniquea released her first boogie funk track at 20 and, in 2011, met local producer XL Middelton — a bonafide purveyor of funk. She's been a star artist on his MoFunk Records ever since, and they've collabed on countless tracks, channeling West Coast energy with a heavy dose of G-funk, sunny lyrics and upbeat, roller disco-ready rhythms.

Her latest release is an upbeat nod to classic West Coast funk, produced by Middleton, and follows her February 2022 groovy, collab-filled album, On Repeat.

Shiro Schwarz

Shiro Schwarz is a Mexico City-based duo, consisting of Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil, who helped establish a modern funk scene in the richly creative Mexican metropolis. On "Electrify" — originally released in 2016 on Fat Beats Records and reissued in 2021 by MoFunk — Shiro Schwarz's vocals playfully contrast each other, floating over an insistent, upbeat bassline and an '80s throwback electro-funk rhythm with synth flourishes.

Their music manages to be both nostalgic and futuristic — and impossible to sit still to. 2021 single "Be Kind" is sweet, mellow and groovy, perfect chic lounge funk. Shiro Schwarz’s latest track, the joyfully nostalgic "Hey DJ," is a collab with funkstress Saucy Lady and U-Key.

L'Impératrice

L'Impératrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.

During their energetic live sets, L'Impératrice members Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), and Tom Daveau (drums) deliver extended instrumental jam sessions to expand and connect their music. Gaugué emphasizes the thick funky bass, and Benguigui jumps around the stage while sounding like an angel. L’Impératrice’s latest album, 2021’s Tako Tsubo, is a sunny, playful French disco journey.

Franc Moody

Franc Moody's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.

Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether.

The Rise Of Underground House: How Artists Like Fisher & Acraze Have Taken Tech House, Other Electronic Genres From Indie To EDC