Hope Street Recordings

San Lazaro - La Despedida (CD)

$13.99

La Despedida - Spanish for "The Farewell" - is a breakup album. A psychedelic, post-apocalyptic meta-breakup album by a band that has broken up more than once. For over a decade, San Lazaro have been playing and writing original Latin music in Melbourne. A tribe of lost Latinos, cobbled together from all over the Spanish speaking world. From Chile to Cuba to Catalonia, they've come together at the Southern end of Australia to sing the songs they needed to sing and tell the stories they needed to tell.

This album, like San Lazaro, is more than the sum of its parts - more fortunate accident than grand design. There's so many different influences that its origins are hard to pinpoint. It's a reflection of a world where children of a dozen diasporas ended up in the same adopted city, dreaming of motherlands they don't quite remember, cannibalising and co-opting stories and musical influences from each other's lives to make meaning in their own.

La Despedida is composed of storytelling that is honest, unapologetic and unambiguously personal. Not just breakup songs, but protest songs, songs of insomnia and midnight ennui, songs about losing friends to drug addiction, songs that promise music can save us. Unconcerned by the fact no-one around them has any idea what they are talking about, San Lazaro have put together a collection of Spanish language songs that reflects the alienation and uncertainty of 21st century suburban life.

The music is a synthesis of far flung elements from all over Latin America's musical history: Afrocuban Rumba, Son Montuno, Peruvian Cumbia from the 1960s, New York Salsa from the 1970s, and more than a few echoes of the Chilean protest-folk movement that was extinguished in the coup of 1973. All the influences all together - unbound by borders or eras.

It's not glamorous, unlike much of contemporary Latin music. The simple almost-live production allows for the musicians' craft and identity to shine through. It's distorted and psyched-out and echo-drenched but it always feels like the same band playing in the same room, no matter what corner of the Latin world they're nodding to. This is a band that has been playing together for a long time, and the self-assurance and confidence that goes with that makes La Despedida an ambitious record that feels effortless and natural.

Esperanza De La Rumba

Amor De Despedida

Hielo Azul

La Ola

No Me Cambie Las Cosas

Descarga Soledad

Rompe El Cascarón

Dale Sentido

Alas Negras

Ladridos De Perros

Important information when ordering with Fatbeats.com

Order Processing Time

Online orders are processed within *3-4 business days or *7-9 business days depending on availability.

Order processing time is separate from shipping time requested. 

Pre-Orders

We try and offer as many upcoming projects available for pre-order when the releases have moved into production. However, due to the nature of manufacturing and production, pre-order dates may change.

If your order contains pre-order items with a release date further than 30 days from the date of purchase, we will split all in-stock items from your order and ship them immediately. Please specify in the comments section of the checkout if you would like to hold your order until it can be entirely fulfilled. 

Out of Stock Items

Our stock rapidly changes and we try and set in place a system that avoids purchasing items that become out of stock. However, if a product ordered is out of stock or on back-order, we will reach out and give you the chance to change or cancel your order. If you choose to cancel, you will be refunded in full.

Digital Items

If your order contains digital items you will receive a digital download link after checkout and it will also be sent to the email provided at checkout. 

Return Policy

All sales are final. However, if the item ordered is different from the item you receive, please contact us and we can arrange to get you the desired product.