Ballads, etc. is a passion project by me, Rion Barcena, meant as a creative outlet to explore the relationship between personal histories and the cultural fabric, from the point of view of a second generation American. The key theme here being the lifestyle and experience of having grown up outside of the Motherland and how that relates the greater cultural identity and the diaspora. Location, age, family structure, socioeconomic status, etcetera all obviously play a role but somehow it all feels as though everything leads back to family and back to love.

These are my little love songs. To my family across circumstance, time and space.