Welcome Back, Gaby

¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara!, now in its 20th anniversary season and impressively endowed with $7 million thanks to the efforts of retired UCSB Arts & Lectures leader Celesta Billeci, welcomes the return of Guatemala-born and Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno this weekend. She wowed the crowds and classrooms in 2018 and as per the project’s mission, her four-day residency includes performances at local schools, and four free concerts, at Carpinteria Veterans Memorial Building on Thursday (Nov. 6), Isla Vista School on Friday (Nov. 7), Guadalupe City Hall on Saturday (Nov. 8), and the traditional climactic show at Marjorie Luke Theatre on Sunday night (Nov. 9). 

Moreno is a subtle and compelling artist, deftly blending musical traditions from her native land and elsewhere in Latin America with artful pop and rock turns, and a bold voice versatile enough to handle genre shifts and rangy emotional dynamics, from soothing to Linda Ronstadt–like beltings. She is a Grammy winner — “Best Latin Pop” album for X Mí (Vol. 1) — who, after moving from Guatemala City to L.A., opened for Tracy Chapman and Ani DiFranco before launching out on her own. 

Moreno, who has also performed locally at SOhO and the Lobero, has a dozen-strong discography that includes a collaboration with pop legend Van Dyke Parks on 2019’s ¡Spangled! (listen here). She described that album as “a Pan-American journey. We chose songs from Latin America; we chose songs from the United States. It’s always his arrangements — he’s a national treasure, for sure. It features Jackson Browne; it features Ry Cooder; it features musicians from Mexico and Brazil. The album embodies all of that.”

Her latest album is Dusk (listen here), a characteristic bilingual admix of pop, Latin, and bluesy flavors. Moreno addressed her layered musical identity. “I’m an immigrant. I’m a bilingual artist. I come from two different worlds. I love American music just as much as I love Latin American music. I’ve tried to fuse them together.

“That’s how I came up with the term ‘Spanglish folk-soul.’ People were always asking me, ‘How do you describe your music?’ I would say, ‘Oh God, I don’t know…. Spanglish folk-soul.’ Technically, it’s not just that, but I draw from different influences, mainly blues and soul and jazz, but I also very much like the Boleros and music from maybe the first four or five decades of the 20th century in Latin America.

“In the end,” she said, “I just do what I’m passionate about, what I feel is honest. I don’t follow any trends. I just try to be true to who I am, to what I love listening to. If people can relate to that and connect with that, that’s a wonderful thing.

“As an immigrant, it’s also important for me to relay that message to all the people who are here in this country who are also working hard, honest people who are just trying to make a living, who left their homes behind to follow their American dream. There are a lot of us out here. I’m one of them too. I’m here by myself, while my family is in Guatemala. 

“It’s a blessing to be able to have music to communicate this kind of message to people. It’s a message of hope, a message of unity, telling everybody I’m with them and I’m part of them. We can all move forward together.”

Following Gaby Moreno (Nov. 6-9), ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! continues with Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles (Jan. 15-18, 2026), the popular Hispanic hybrid band Las Cafeteras (Mar. 19-22, 2026), and Ballet Folklórico del Rio Grande (Apr. 16-19, 2026).