Hailing from San Martin de los Andes of Patagonia in Argentina, hip-hop trio Fémina transcends boundaries of language, culture and gender to produce a sound that is delicate but strong, carefree but profound, all tied together with a Latin flair.
Fémina—comprised of sisters Sofia “Toti” Trucco on guitar and charango and Clara “Wewi” Trucco on percussion, and their lifelong friend Clara Miglioli on guitar—visited the Paste studio last week to perform the harmonious “En Mi Memoria” and “Buen Viaje,” from their 2014 album Traspasa and their 2015 album, Deshice De Mi, as well as one unreleased, upbeat track, “Arriba.”
The multi-talented trifecta formed in 2004, inspired by the local Patagonian rap and dancing scenes, as well as American hip hop on MTV and the radio. Upon their formation, the three friends had a list of names for their group, but chose the name “Fémina,” which translates to “female” in Latin.
“It’s such a strong word, ‘fémina.’ It’s also a beautiful word. When we used to write it in our poetry, it was ‘fémina’ all the time,” explained Miglioli.
“We started doing rhymes, like with a lot of rap. In Argentina, in Buenos Aires, there were not too many female rappers. It was a way to represent our girls,” continued Sofia Trucco.
“It’s such a strong word, ‘fémina.’ It’s also a beautiful word. When we used to write it in our poetry, it was ‘fémina’ all the time.”
Although the band was initially inspired by American rap’s standard hip-hop beats, they soon felt their own culture and talents seep into their music.
“We started doing rap with beats, but we love to play guitar and instruments. One day we were like, ‘What are we doing? Let’s do our own thing and start doing these rhymes with our instruments.’ We started playing the instruments that we had at home,” Sofia explained. “We saw that it was a good thing to do—take that thing that we liked from the rap that is from another place, another people, and make it ours.”
The result of this infusion of sounds and nations came across during their performance at the Paste studio, mixing Latin genres cumbia, candombe, rumba and boleros with rap and funk. Their sweet harmonies and passionate performance conveyed the meaning and emotion behind their lyrics, even for those who could not understand the language.
Check out Fémina’s radiant performance of “En Mi Memoria,” “Buen Viaje” and “Arriba” in the player below.