On stage, her passion is electric as she moves effortlessly to the Latin beats. Her dreadlocks sway and her voice transports you to a place you always wished you could go. Off stage, her kindness is natural and her smile is beguiling, making you feel you’ve been friends for years. Her name is Geña, and she’s taking the city by storm, one band, one stage, one performance at a time.
Raised in a northwestern coastal town in Puerto Rico, Geña was engulfed in the middle of a large family of six kids. She grew up inside bohemian bars watching her father play guitar and on an island where music runs through everyone’s veins, it was only a matter of time when Geña would catch the bug.
"It’s in the air. They breathe music,” Geña states about the people of Puerto Rico. “You’re born dancing and singing, like Italian women are born cooking.”
Music is what composes Geña’s blood, which is evident in the singer’s diversity. At the age of 18, she started a psychedelic band and also experimented with punk rock. However, life decided to turn the tables on her and experiment with Geña’s strength at the age of 21. After enduring a horrific carjacking and kidnapping, Geña was forced to reexamine her life.
"I felt rebellious on my own island. I thought, ‘If I can’t feel safe in my own home, what’s the point of being here?’” Geña remembers asking herself.
Overcome with the feeling of obtaining a second chance at life, Geña took off to New York City in 1997 with little knowledge of the English language and no job. In order to support herself, she began working in restaurants and acting in commercials like many starving artists.
Finally snagging a job at the Theater for the New City, Geña found herself surrounded by musicians of all kinds, including world-renowned producer Joel Diamond. The two began performing in a jazz trio that continued for about five years, marking Geña’s first of many musical ventures. After several mediocre successes such as working with Diamond on a documentary soundtrack, The Believer, Geña was beginning to feel like she had run her course in the Big Apple.
“I just didn’t see how someone could be a full-time musician and struggle all the time,” Geña reflects.
After meeting the man who would become her daughter’s father, the two picked up and moved to Pittsburgh in 2004. Her hope for a music career was dwindling, but once she gave birth to her daughter, that all changed.
“I realized music was it,” Geña states.
Immersing herself in the city’s culture, Geña found a slice of her home right here in the Burgh. Organizations such as the African Drumming Ensemble and the Latin American Cultural Union allowed her to begin performing the traditional Puerto Rican music she loves with people who love it just the same. A few of these like-minded people embarked on another musical journey with Geña as they formed Machete, a “rebel, rock and riot salsa” band. Drawing from their Latin roots, the group resembles everything Geña exudes- energy, passion, life and love.
Geña also found a musical soul mate in Preach Freedom, the drummer for Pittsburgh’s own Rusted Root. After meeting through a mutual partner, also Rusted Root’s guitarist Colter Harper, the two began making magic with their similar passion for traditional Latin sounds.
Watching the two perform together as they often do at venues such as Seviche in the Cultural District, it’s easy to see the organic relationship the two share as Preach works his bongo and Geña transforms the microphone into a channel for Latin vibes.
“It’s as if he’s drumming my body,” Geña states. “It’s synchronized, simultaneous talk. It’s beautiful.”
Although the pair has only been working together for less than two years, Preach feels like it’s been decades and believes Geña is a force to be reckoned with.
"She’s an incredible artist to work with,” Preach proclaims. “She’s a powerful, passionate, proud Latino woman. Just fire.”
There’s a lot of passion in Geña’s life right now and it doesn’t seem to be fading away any time soon. She has many goals in order to keep that fervor thriving but there’s one that continues to inspire her and she wishes it for all of us as well.
"Being able to do what I love- that’s what it’s all about,” Geña says. “Do what you love.”
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