Under a full moon, Silvana Estrada lifts her chin up to the sky, warbling out, Cómo será de hermosa la muerte que nadie ha vuelto de allá. “How beautiful death must be, that no one has returned,” she croons wistfully.
“The thing I love the most when I'm performing is to see the faces of the audience. It's like an artwork itself. You can see their struggle, their faith, their hopes — it’s really a beautiful portrait of society,” she told WLRN.
Just a couple blocks from the water at the Miami Beach Bandshell, the ocean breeze complements the visual language of Estrada’s latest album Vendrán Suaves Lluvias or “Soft Rain Will Come” in English.
Estrada, who was nominated for six Latin Grammys this year, joins a slate of up-and-coming independent Latin artists who have made stops in South Florida. Last year, the bombastic duo from Argentina, CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, whose Tiny Desk video racked a record 56 million views, also performed at the Miami Beach Bandshell. Now they’re slated to open for Harry Styles in his 2027 Together, Together tour. Puerto Rican artists such as Buscabulla and Chuwi, who broke out after featuring on Bad Bunny’s albums, both performed in Miami at Zey Zey.
But how do these artists make it to South Florida, a notoriously inconvenient place for musicians to book stops for a tour?
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“ I don't think 10 years ago or even five years ago we would have seen any of these artists come to Miami because there's a vicious cycle of a lack of venues. When you don't have venues, you cannot breed promoters. When there's no promoters, no one's buying shows, hence artists don't have offers to come down here,” said Carlos Aybar, the CEO of Mishu Music, a production company that specializes in promoting independent Latin artists.
Escala Sonora, the promotional arm of Mishu, has been the primary engine behind these curated bookings. If a band is touring the East Coast, the company will buy a stop on the route and find the best local venue that matches the artist’s fan base and their likelihood to sell tickets.
By booking a show in Miami, Aybar said it gives bands access to Florida, teeing up the opportunities for additional stops in the state. And it’s that business model that speaks to Escala Sonora’s name — escala which, in this context, refers to a layover.
“ It's a long drive down [to Miami] where you're just losing money on the way down and then losing money on the way up, right? 'Cause you wanna be able to go city to city where you're investing that cash,” Aybar said.
There’s no guarantee that Escala Sonora will hit the mark every time, Aybar said. It’s a combination of audience data, institutional knowledge and timing.
“It's like betting on the right horse, but there's no way to actually identify that that's gonna happen. It’s a little bit of playing in that casino, right? You just wanna try to hit more than when you don't,” he said.
A year ago, Escala Sonora booked Chuwi. Two months later, they announced they were opening for Bad Bunny’s world tour for Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
“ The promoter's the one who takes the risk. The promoter pays the bill. The agent is the one that connects their roster, who is their client, to the right promoter in each market,” Aybar said.
Escala Sonora’s business model reflects what Adam Ganuza, the executive director of The Rhythm Foundation, would describe as a disjointed, yet growing music scene in Miami — one still recovering the effects of the pandemic.
“ You have a bunch of essentially underground warehouse-type spaces. That's where independent music, the independent creator scene is all flourishing,” Ganuza said. ”We see people today starting to give more of a premium toward real-life experiences, right? Stuff that's not mediated through the screen.”
Ganuza leads The Rhythm Foundation, an arts and culture nonprofit that also manages the historic Miami Beach Bandshell on behalf of the City of Miami Beach. Much like Escala Sonora, the organization has been fostering cultural exchange for nearly 40 years by bringing artists from around the world to South Florida.
Whereas the foundation has access to institutional resources that offer more regular and free programming, Escala Sonora's strategy offers more flexibility.
Contagious energy
Together, both organizations are trying to meet the moment — in this case, strengthening Miami as a hub for international music and building a pipeline for emerging indie artists like Silvana Estrada to tour.
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“ In comparison to those three years [of making the album], the touring has been one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced in my life. And I'm saying this absolutely tired. I've been traveling since September last year nonstop,” Estrada said.
This is the third time the 29-year-old singer songwriter has performed in Miami. During her last visit, she sang at the GroundUP Music Festival to a 300 capacity venue. This time, she performed at the Bandshell, a venue that can hold up to 1,350 people.
“ I feel like there's this energy that the weather and the humidity and the sea brings to Miami that’s really contagious,” Estrada said. “ I feel like the sea is such a balm — all nurturing for your soul and your mind. It's welcoming. And that's Miami. It's welcoming."
Her new album, a project three years in the making, is a reflection on loss. It comes after her best friend and his brother were abducted and murdered in Mexico. Each track on the album probes the layers of grief that came in the aftermath of their deaths, while also exploring themes of solitude and heartbreak.
Estrada said that touring with her new music and performing live has affirmed her calling as an artist.
At her show in Miami, her music encouraged people to move, to sing. Some couples danced salsa, others swayed to the beat while some loyal fans threw flowers on stage. She lives for that synergy and transcendence.
“On this tour, I've been even healing my hope and my faith in humanity — people just like vibrating with you, singing with you, healing with you,” she said.
As players in Miami’s music scene, Escala Sonora and The Rhythm Foundation underscore the role of arts groups in introducing new music, new cultures and new stories to South Florida.
“Each promoter or each venue can only offer so much, but in the collective, like that's what part of being in the music community is,” Aybar said. “Everyone's aware of the need that exists and everyone kinda puts in their grain of sand.”
