The Volcano Daughters

Balibrera debuts with a heart-wrenching portrait of Graciela and Consuelo, sisters caught up in the whirlwind of violence and political machinations in 1930s El Salvador. Born into an Indigenous community at the foot of a volcano, the two are separated in childhood but reunited in the capital, where Graciela serves as an oracle to an increasingly unhinged dictatorial general. When the general unleashes a brutal genocidal campaign on the sisters’ home, they are caught in the mayhem, each believing that the other has died. They flee the country, heading in different directions, though each is accompanied by the ghosts of their childhood friends, who guide them, offer sharp-tongued commentary, and stand witness. Inés del Castillo serves as the primary narrator, La Yina, who conveys the story’s momentum and, as a stand-in for Balibrera, is gently ribbed by the raucous ghostly chorus. Gisela Chípe, Elena Rey, Alma Cuervo, and E.A. Castillo vibrantly narrate the slain friends, bringing out their insouciant individuality and allowing listeners to imagine the women they might have become.