Gaby Moreno made her late-night TV debut yesterday (Jan. 22) with a very famous friend. The Guatemalan singer-songwriter performed “Luna de Xelajú” with actor Oscar Isaac on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“Luna de Xelajú” is one of the songs on Moreno’s EP X Mí (Vol. 1). After a decade of being signed to Ricardo Arjona’s Metamorfosis label, she released the EP on Cosmica Records. The song is the only one that she didn’t write herself on the record. It’s a Guatemalan standard that Moreno hoped to make more special with Oscar Isaac on it. Like Moreno, the actor is also from Guatemala.
“Luna de Xelajú” isn’t the only time the two friends have sung together. Their friendship goes back a decade when music first brought them together. Moreno and Oscar met at a concert put on by mutual friends, where they bonded over performing “Cucurrucucú Paloma.” They have remained close friends ever since that moment.
“When we met, it was just like this instant connection because obviously, we share the Guatemalan roots, and we sang together that same night when we met, and it was so magical,” Moreno told Remezcla in May 2023. “It was so beautiful, and we became friends fast. Over the years, we’ve sung together a bunch, so it just felt very natural to record a song together.”
Moreno and Oscar Isaac sang “Luna de Xelajú” live on TV for the first time last night. During the haunting performance, both singers also played the guitar. They channeled the intimate vibe of singing together inside a closed L.A. theater for X Mí (Vol. 1) in front of a live studio audience and the world.
Moreno is currently nominated at the 2024 Grammy Awards. She is up for Best Latin Pop Album for X Mí (Vol. 1). Oscar Isaac has combined his love of acting and singing together before for the movie Inside Llewyn Davis in 2013.
Watch the performance below.