Reyna Tropical on her debut album, 'Malegría'

The band Reyna Tropical began as a duo. Fabi Reyna and Nectali "Sumo" Diaz started making music together in 2016, quickly developing their own improvisational writing style.

Over the years, they released a couple of EPs, toured and played SXSW. Then, in 2022, when they had already begun working on music for their debut full-length album, Sumo died in an accident.

After Sumo's death, Fabi questioned whether she should keep making music as Reyna Tropical, but she began to channel her grief into what she now calls "the most beautiful thing" she's created.

The album is called Malegría, a Spanish portmanteau that combines mal, or hurt, and alegría, or happiness. While Fabi is now the sole member, what you hear on Malegría is still a duo, as she has incorporated recordings featuring Sumo throughout the record.

In this session, Fabi joins World Cafe to talk about making Malegría, plus we have live performances recorded in front of an audience during the 2024 NON-COMMvention at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.