Folk singer Silvana Estrada counters a culture of violence with light

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One of the first things Silvana Estrada noticed about Las Vegas was its lack of natural light.

The Mexican singer-songwriter has always found the dingy, artificially lit interiors of the city’s casinos to be a bit unsettling. So ahead of the Latin Grammys in November — where her folk ballad, “Como un Pájaro,” was nominated for best singer-songwriter song — Estrada elected to stay in a hotel that didn’t feel like it was “underground.”

“My first thought [when walking into the hotel] was, ‘Thank God there’s sunlight,’” said Estrada, who sat across from me inside a busy coffee shop at the Encore resort in Las Vegas. Her face was illuminated by precious sun rays beaming through the wind