Angelica Rincon and Lilli Ahvenainen music creators for Guerrera: Women Make Music
Guerrera – the UK’s only all-women salsa orchestra
Guerrera was started by Angelica Rincon and Lilli Ahvenainen, long-time colleagues, in 2019 to fill a void in the Latin and salsa music scene. The band brings together the best and brightest of women musicians’ talent in the UK, with three singers at the front, a three-piece horn section and a four-piece rhythm section. In their debut London show in 2020 Guerrera sold out the Jazz Café. Guerrera offers a refreshing perspective to the traditionally male-dominated salsa orchestra scene – women’s stories are the backbone of their music.
Angelica, Lilli, and Guerrera will use their Women Make Music grant to record their first EP, consisting of four songs. The music is written by Angelica and Lilli and will be recorded at Liminal Studios in Beckenham by producer Magnus Mehta. Mixing and mastering by Carlos Gálvez will take place in Colombia. The stories in the music come from Angelica and Lilli’s life experience as well as their experiences as women playing salsa. For the band, the recording and release of this EP will solidify their place on the London salsa scene as this will be the first time that an all-women salsa orchestra will have released their original music in this country.