I was born in a small pueblo in oaxaca, this is where my umbilical cord is buried, so according to tradition i will always return to this place. my mother is a mixtec indian from san miguel el grande and my father was a north american filmaker fromcolorado springs of scottish descent. I went to school in tlaxiaco and st paul minnesota , and to highschool in oaxaca city where I began studying voice at bellas artes and Rowland heights, california. I studied voice and anthropology at the university of minnesota and studied symbolism of the trique textiles woven by women from the trique nation in the mixtec region of oaxaca. I dropped out for a while and began writing songs about mixtec inmigrants who go to the u.s. to work in the fields and the kitchens. I met paul cohen around this time, and we started to write cumbias and other tunes together














